You would have to search hard to find a Chenin Blanc that lived up to the quality this wine brings to the table. Mouth watering and juicy, it has a perfect balance of acidity and residual sugar (0.6%) to make it a perfect food wine or standalone sipper. It has a good amount of zingy melon, tropical and peach notes making it ideal for slightly sweet vegetables like yams and corn to deep-fried coconut shrimp or mild fish and game hens. This is a very versatile wine with many pairing possibilities. Just remember to veer from dishes that include heat (think jalapeno or heavy black pepper), greens or sweet desserts.
And on a side note, most California vintners have given up on Chenin Blanc. I’m glad Dry Creek Vineyards continues to crank out stellar examples of this grape. Even with the difficult 2011 growing season, the viticultural team managed to pull off a harvest that produced a spectacular showing of grapes with perfect ripeness, and for that, I commend them. This is definitely a best buy coming from a quality producer. Drink now through 2014.
Rating: Excellent (90) | $12 | 12.5% ABV
Find this wine to buy: Vinquire | WineZap.com
Hi Pamela, thanks for the great rundown of Dry Creek Chenin! Theirs is a benchmark wine in California, and I’m excited to try the 2011 vintage. I just wanted to weigh in on the latter part of the review and suggest that while 2011 may have been a difficult vintage for late-ripening red wines, it was in my opinion a textbook growing season for Clarksburg and for the aromatic white category in general. I think the vintage as a whole tends to get categorized as if all wine comes from Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel at 26 brix, but I think it bears repeating that a cool, dry summer is fantastic for developing flavor and retaining acids in whites and lighter reds. Thats just my two cents, thanks!
Appreciate the comments Zack! By the way, I haven’t heard or tried your Blue Plate Chenin Blanc! Gotta try it because I love your mission and vision…and your ’11 style of racy minerality is right up my ally.
As for seasonal conditions, agreed regarding reds. The word from Dry Creek was that the region had an unusually cool summer so canopy management was fundamental to achieve ripeness. Late rains also played into the factor, but most of the CB was already picked (woot!) So what I was trying to point out is that many producers do not spend the necessary time in the vineyard to produce optimal fruit; Dry Creek does and I commend them for the efforts they put forth. As the saying goes, you can make bad wine out of good grapes but you can’t make good wine out of bad grapes. It all starts in the vineyard.
Amen! A keen sense of the vintage conditions and a commitment to those subtle (or not) vineyard tweaks in response can mean all the difference in the world to the ensuing wine.
Thanks for checking out our site–If you’ve any interest, I’d be thrilled to send you a bottle to hear your thoughts on our take on Clarksburg Chenin.
Hi Pamela and Zach – thanks for the super dialouge about our 2011 Chenin Blanc. All of what you are saying is absolutely true. The crazy cold summer of 2011 was not near as bad in the Clarksburg appellation as it was in Sonoma County. For example, 2011 Cabernet’s from Sonoma and Napa are going to be pretty interesting wines. Maybe more like 98 – as a comparison. BUT, for SB, Zin and other varieties that came in before the rains in October, the wines look awesome. One great thing about 2011 is that the cool weather really maintained the natural acidity in the grapes. For me, our 2011 Chenin Blanc is killer because I’m an acid freak – I love wines that have a great core of fruit but have the tannin and structure behind it. Fruit bombs are not my friend. Anyway, the Blue Plate Chenin is excellent Pamela – you should try it for sure.
Cheers!
Bill Smart
Dry Creek Vineyard
Bill, I appreciate the kind words about blue plate–they carry quite a bit of weight, considering the source. As I previously mentioned, I can’t wait to try the latest incarnation of your Chenin…and it sounds like I’ll have to make a point to watch for some of your other wines from ’11 as well. Although a cool summer can lead to more work in the vineyard, and certainly more stress about early fall rains, when it all comes together and dons that perfect backbone of acidity to a wine the results are spectacular. Especially, in my opinion, with a varietal like Zinfandel.
And thanks again to Pamela, for providing the great forum for this discussion!
Hey Bill, thanks for stopping buy – and Zach, I can’t wait to try it! Cheers.