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Chenin blanc (known also as Pineau de la Loire among other names), is a white wine grape variety from the Loire valley of France. Its high acidity means it can be used to make everything from sparkling wines to well-balanced dessert wines, although it can produce very bland, neutral wines if the vine's natural vigor is not controlled. Outside the Loire it is found in most of the New World wine regions; it is the most widely planted variety in South Africa, where it is also known as Steen. The grape may have been one of the first to be grown in South Africa by Jan van Riebeeck in 1655, or it may have come to that country with Huguenots fleeing France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Chenin blanc was often misidentified in Australia as well, so tracing its early history in the country is not easy. It may have been introduced in James Busby's collection of 1832, but C. Waterhouse was growing Steen at Highercombe in Houghton, South Australia by 1862. It provides a fairly neutral palate for the expression of ''terroir'', vintage variation and the winemaker's treatment.〔Oz Clarke ''Encyclopedia of Grapes'' pg 75-83 Harcourt Books 2001 ISBN 0-15-100714-4〕 In cool areas the juice is sweet but high in acid with a full-bodied fruity palate. In the unreliable summers of northern France, the acidity of under ripened grapes was often masked with chaptalization with unsatisfactory results, whereas now the less ripe grapes are made into popular sparkling wines such as Crémant de Loire. The white wines of the Anjou AOC are perhaps the best expression of Chenin as a dry wine, with flavors of quince and apples. In nearby Vouvray AOC they aim for an off-dry style, developing honey and floral characteristics with age. In the best vintages the grapes can be left on the vines to develop noble rot, producing an intense, viscous dessert wine which may improve considerably with age. ==History== The French ampelographer Pierre Galet has theorized that Chenin blanc originated in the Anjou wine region sometime in the 9th century and from there traveled to Touraine by at least the 15th century.〔 The grape may have been the variety described in two royal land grants of Charles the Bald in 845 detailed in the records of the abbey of Glanfeuil as growing on the left bank of the Loire river in vineyards belonging to individuals with the name of Soulangé and Bessé.〔J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz ''Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours'' pgs 82, 236-238 Allen Lane 2012 ISBN 978-1-846-14446-2 〕 When Thomas Bohier purchased vineyard land around Chenonceaux on January 3rd, 1496, several grape varieties were brought in from the Burgundy wine region of Beaune, the Jura wine region of Arbois and nearby Orléans and Anjou. One of these varieties, a white grape known as ''Plant d'Anjou'' was later planted between 1520 to 1535 at a nearby site known as Mont Chenin in Touraine by the Lord of Château de Chenonceau and his brother in law, Denis Briçonnet, the abbot of Cormery. Ampelographers believe that ''Plant d'Anjou'' was like Chenin blanc with the grape eventually taking on the name from Mont Chenin.〔 The French writer François Rabelais (1494–1553) wrote glowingly about the white wines of Anjou, and mentions the medicinal qualities of the grapes at the end of chapter XXV of ''Gargantua'': This done, the shepherds and shepherdesses made merry with these cakes and fine grapes, and sported themselves together at the sound of the pretty small pipe, scoffing and laughing at those vainglorious cake-bakers, who had that day met with a mischief for want of crossing themselves with a good hand in the morning. Nor did they forget to apply to Forgier's leg ''some fat chenin grapes'', and so handsomely dressed it and bound it up that he was quickly cured.〔Translation based on that of Gustave Doré (1894) at (Project Gutenberg ) of the following French :Ce faict, et bergiers et bergieres feirent chere lye avecques ces fouaces et beaulx raisins, et se rigollerent ensemble au son de la belle bouzine, se mocquans de ces beaulx fouaciers glorieux, qui avoient trouvé male encontre par faulte de s'estre seignez de la bonne main au matin, et avec gros raisins chenins estuverent les jambes de Forgier mignonnement, si bien qu'il feut tantost guery.〕 From France the grape spread to South Africa where it was most likely included among the vine cuttings sent to Jan van Riebeeck in the Cape Colony by the Dutch East India Company. In the 20th century it was discovered that a sub-variety of Chenin planted in the Loire was not actually Chenin blanc at all but rather the grape Verdelho, which is banned from French AOC regulations in the Loire.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Chenin blanc」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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