2023 I. Brand & Family Winery, Chenin Blanc, Massa Estate Vineyard, Carmel Valley AVA, Monterey County.
I couldn’t resist the opportunity to try Chenin from almost 40 years apart from the same vineyard and vines, when the chance happened, so I opened the 1984 Durney Vineyards Carmel Valley Chenin Blanc alongside the 2023 I. Brand & Family Winery Massa Estate Vineyard Chenin Blanc. The results were more than I could have hoped for and both wines offered up the story of place, though obviously the 1984 Durney Chenin was really at the end of life, but still had some charms to give before fading away into an oxidized death after 20 minutes. The I. Brand, by Ian Brand, who has done so much to revive this historic vineyard in the the deep end of Carmel Valley, was beautiful and showed off everything you’d want from old vine Chenin, giving a range of honeyed peach, bruised apple and fig to preserved lemon fruits, along with a stony note, leesy brioche, mineral, bitter almond and subtle spring flowers. This pale golden/straw hued Chenin, delivers the vintage’s cool personality and underlying acidity nicely, helping add lift to this medium to full bodied effort from organic vines planted in Cachagua on California shale and loam. Similar to last year’s version, this I. Brand & Family Massa Chenin Blanc, coming from rejuvenated vines originally own rooted back in about 1968 planted by the Durney’s, on a unique set of California shale soils was fermented and aged exclusively in neutral, well used, French oak for the better part of a year sur lie, making for textural wine that still retains its elegant, mineral driven personality. Chenin is back in fashion with the newer generation of Chenin champions in California including Leo Hansen of Leo Steen, Ted Lemon of Littorai, Pax Mahle, Chris Brockway of Broc Cellars, Justin Willett of Lieu-Dit, Andrew Jones of Field Recordings, Combe by Raj Parr and Stolpman Vineyards, Tegan Passalacqua of Sandlands and Jaimee Motley. California has a lot to offer for white wines in the future, and there’s a lot of excitement as they come on to the market, and this one is one of many examples to search out.
Chenin Blanc, as I’ve noted before, is found in most of the New World wine regions, and in fact during the early 1980s, California actually had more acreage of Chenin Blanc planted than France! Though the number of Chenin plantings later steadily declined and the grape fell into obscurity until the last 10 years or so. The grape’s popularity in the state is still reserved for a select few but there are some absolutely awesome offerings, like this one that deserve wider attention. Speaking of the 1970s and 1980s, Chappellet, Chalone and Durney were stars of Chenin, usually focused on dry versions and had many fans until until the grape fell into obscurity. The Loire Valley still sets the standard worldwide, but interestingly, Chenin is the most widely planted variety in South Africa, where it is also known as Steen, and like California, there are some amazing versions there too, such as Sadie Family, Reyneke and Mullineux to name a few. Chenin has been on the west coast for a long time, in fact it grows from the Baja Peninsula to Oregon’s Willamette Valley to great effect, again as mentioned, there is some serious plantings in Santa Barbara County, the west side of Paso Robles, Monterey County, in particular Chalone, where it has been since 1919, and Carmel Valley as seen here, the Sierra Foothills, Lodi, Clarksberg, Sonoma County, Napa Valley and Mendocino County, and there are a number of vineyards that date back to the middle of the last century. So, again it was fun to try the old Durney Chenin, with its dried apricot, baked peach and waxy notes, though it would have been much better 20 years ago. There’s a few classics, of note too, still made by Casa Nuestra in St. Helena, Chalone, as noted, and Chappellet, with its old vine mountain grapes. Ian Brand, who is mostly known for his reds, like Grenache and Cabernet Franc, told me recently that he’s getting really excited with the white wine grapes in the greater Monterey region and his latest set of wines reflects that, with his Sauvignon Blanc, Verdelho, Chardonnay, Albarñno, Melon de Bourgogne, Arinto and rare Arneis all being distinctive and delicious!
($36 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive