page_title: Chenin blanc
section_title: Yields and harvest times
hierarchical_section_title: Chenin blanc / Viticulture / Yields and harvest times
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Weinlese, Coswig in Sachsen, Deutschland. English: Grape gathering, Coswig in Saxony, Germany. Русский: Сбор винограда. Косвиг, Саксония, Германия.
context_page_description: Chenin blanc 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 was historically 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. In cool areas the juice is sweet but high in acid with a full-bodied fruity palate.
context_section_description: While true for most wine grape varieties, the quality of Chenin blanc wine is intimately connected to the care taken in the vineyard. If the grapes are harvested too soon, before they ripen, the high acidity of the resulting wine will be (according to wine expert Oz Clarke) "one of the nastiest wines possible". If the grapes are harvested at too high of a yield, the grapes will not retain any of Chenin blanc's distinctive character notes. In the Loire, French regulations mandate that yields be kept low (40-50 hl/ha). At these levels, more of Chenin blanc's varietal characteristics of floral, honeyed aromas are exhibited. When the grape is harvested at high yields, such as the California Central Valley average of 10 tons per acre (175 hl/ha), Chenin's flavors become more bland and neutral. The vine is naturally vigorous and prone to overcropping if not kept in check. In fertile soils, as in parts of South Africa, Chenin blanc can easily produce yields of 240 hl/ha. To keep yields in check, vineyard managers may choose to graft Chenin vines with less vigorous rootstock from Vitis riparia or Vitis rupestris vines. During the growing season, they may also elect to do a green harvest where excess grape clusters are removed.
  With optimal ripeness and balance between acidity and sugars being such a viticultural priority for Chenin blanc, many growers (such as those in the Loire Valley) will harvest the grapes in tries or successive pickings through the vineyards. During each series of picking only the ripest clusters or individual grapes are harvested by hand during a period that could last four to six weeks and include three to six passes through the vineyard. For the production of sweet botrytized wines, pickers will look for the grapes that have achieved the necessary amount of the noble rot. In hot and dry years where no noble rot occurs, pickers may leave ripened grapes on the vine long enough to shrivel, or passerillé, where it could later be effected by noble rot. In areas that experience a lot of vintage variation, winemakers may decide on a day by day basis what style and dryness of Chenin blanc they could make, with the grapes harvested during each tries going to different styles of wine. For some producers in Vouvray, which may have up to six tries during harvest, the first few tries could go to sparkling and dry wine production while the later tries could go towards sweet wine production.
caption: Producers will often harvest Chenin blanc by hand in a succession of pickings known as tries. The grapes may be harvested as whole clusters or individual berries.
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