The 2025 Chenin Blanc Symposium

The annual L.A.S. Vino Chenin Blanc Symposium. A tasting of the world's best Chenin Blanc

The following producer's made the line up in the 2025 L.A.S. Vino Chenin Symposium + Sausage Sizzle. The producers below represent the best Australian Chenin Blanc from the 2022 vintage. The international wines, represent the best that can be purchased in Australia from the 2022 vintage. All of the wines in the tasting were exceptional examples of Chenin. All the best chenin blanc from Margaret River was tasted.

PRODUCERS

MARGARET RIVER

1. L.A.S. Vino   

2. Tripe Iscariot

3. Trait wines

4. Windows Estate

5. Churchview Estate

6. LS Merchants

7. Dormilona  

8. Pierro

9. Marriwood Park

10.South by Southwest

SWAN VALLEY

11. John Kosovich

12. Corymbia

13. Vino Volta

14. Swan Valley Wines

15. Faber Vineyard

AUSTRALIA

16. MMAD McLaren Vale

17. Aphelion McLaren Vale

18. Yayoi wines McLaren Vale

19. Castagna Beechworth

UNITED STATES

20. Beau Rivage

21.  Birichino Jurassic Park Vineyard

NEW ZEALAND

22. Milton Te Arai Vineyard

FRANCE

23. Domaine Francois and Julien Pinon sec Vouvray

24. Arnaud Lambert Breze Blanc Clos de Midi Saumur

SOUTH AFRICA

25.  David and Nadia

26. Mullineux Kloof Street

Chenin blanc is one of those chameleon varieties that can be grown and made in several ways, meaning the resulting wines provide an array of options to drinkers. The trouble is that in Australia, chenin blanc isn’t on the radar for most people. 

In its home of the Loire Valley in France, however, chenin blanc is a hero, and this high-acid grape turns up in all manner of wines – from juicy Cremant de Loire sparklings to food-friendly Vouvray whites. Further to being fizzy or still, chenin can also be dry, off-dry or sweet . In South Africa, chenin is the dominant white variety.

With the Australian wine industry largely founded on classic French styles, why is chenin blanc one that hasn’t made a mark? Well, it’s finicky for one. A bit of a homebody, chenin is particular about its environments, preferring mild climates. Parts of our warm country would be less than ideal.

That said on our soils, chenin does have a presence. Some of the best examples come from the west coast, where you’ll find mostly dry, fruity styles. Chenin blanc can produce aromatic, refreshing, versatile wines that are great with food. Its diversity – from crisp and mineral-driven to textural and fruit-forward, plus those bubbly and botrytis styles – keeps things interesting too. The next time you go to pick up a bottle of, say, chardonnay, why not consider chenin blanc? You might be pleasantly surprised.

James Halliday

NOTES ON PRODUCERS

MARGARET RIVER

L.A.S. Vino CBDB (Chenin Blanc Dynamic Blend) Organic/Biodynamic

Wild-grown fruit from a certified organic/biodynamic vineyard in Yallingup was hand-picked, chilled overnight and hand sorted prior to being lightly cold pressed as whole bunches over a few hours. The juice was left to naturally settle prior to racking and a wild fermentation in barriques and amphora 30% for 10 months. Fortnightly lees stirring prior to being bottled with no fining and a light filtration. Soil: Gravelly Loam.  Location: Yallingup Vine Age: 35 years

Tripe Iscariot ‘Karridale’

Vines of 29 years planted in gravel loam over granite in Karridale. Hand-picked, de-stemmed and fermented as whole berries until dry. Gently basket- pressed to old French Oak barriques. Aged in oak for 9 months with fortnightly battonage, before blending. pH 3.12 TA 7.4 RS 1.55

Trait Wines

Fruit for Trait Wines is sourced from a 2.7 hectare vineyard mere kilometres from Margaret River’s town centre in the south west corner of Western Australia. Planted in 1988, the site is sloping and the vines close-planted in gravelly loam soil. Fruit is hand-picked, whole bunch pressed and fermented in oak and left for several months prior to bottling.

Windows Estate ‘Petit lot’ Chenin Blanc

This wine comes from the first vines planted on the property in 1996.  The soil consists of gravelly loam over clay and is naturally high in minerals. Planted with a North South orientation, the resultant fruit was shaded allowing for greater retention of mineral characters and natural acid.  Handpicked at first light and chilled down prior to pressing. The grapes were whole bunch pressed with only the free run juice being retained and transferred to 3-year-old French oak barriques and clay for indigenous ferment and maturation on lees for 11 months.

Churchview Estate

Certified Organic Fruit. Selected rows and individual bunches of Chenin Blanc were hand harvested from the Western end of the vineyard. These bunches tended to be on the outer part of the vines where the fruit had a little more sun exposure. After a hand pick, a select number of “special” bunches are removed and returned to cool storage. These bunches will eventually be returned to the fermenting wine in the barrel. The balance of the fruit is pressed straight into a mixture of new French oak puncheons and 1 – 2 year old French barriques.

LS Merchants

Fruit from the Treeton subregion. Harvested with a selective machine pick in the night and to press 6 hours after. Pressed direct to barrel. Mix of inoculated and wild ferment in barrel. Lees stirring bi-weekly. Bottled after 8 months in barrel.

Dormilona

 Organic chenin blanc from Yangarra in Yallingup. Hand harvested, whole bunch pressed direct into Italian amphora and french oak puncheons & some seasoned barrels. Battonage for three months then racked to settle before bottling.

Marriwood Park

A certified organic/biodynamic dry grown vineyard in Yallingup. Fruit hand-picked and pressed as whole bunches over a few hours. The juice was left to naturally settle prior to racking and a fermentation in 500L 2 year-old French barriques for 10 months (no malo). Monthly stirring prior to being bottled with no fining and a light filtration. Soil: Gravelly Loam.  Location: Yallingup Vine Age: 35 years

Pierro Margaret River Vineyards

Vines planted in 1980, so 42 years old now. Grown in rich granite loam soil next to the Willyabrup River. The fruit is all hand-picked, chilled, hand sorted and whole bunch pressed at 8 degrees to tank. Settled for 48 hours then fermented cold in stainless steel. Halfway through ferment the wine is transferred to oak barrels for a period of 3 months prior to being returned to tank post fermentation. It settled in tank for an additional 6 months prior to bottling.

South by Southwest 

The Chenin Blanc fruit was sourced from a single vineyard in the Treeton subregion of Margaret River and was selectively harvested in the early hours on March 7. The 2022 Chenin Blanc fruit was gently crushed and destemmed and cooled on skins for 8 hours before being pressed to tank and allowed to settle and cool for 24 hours and then transferred to 2 and 3 year old French oak barriques for fermentation and maturation. The barrels were frequently stirred during ferment, and less frequently during maturation. Malolactic fermentation was cut off in barrels based on taste. Maturation was in barrel, on full lees for a period of 11 months before being lightly fined, filtered and bottle.

SWAN VALLEY

John Kosovich

A mild year producing nice clean fruit with fresh bright acidity. Harvest date was the 2nd week of Feb. The vines were planted in 1962 and the soil type is sand over clay. All fruit is hand picked and carefully sorted before crushing and a light pressing. Juice is cold settled, racked and fermentation carried out in stainless steel tank,  followed by 5 months aging on fine yeast lees.A light fining and then one filtration on bottling day which was in October that year. Alcohol at 12.8%

Corymbia

The fruit is dry grown, organically farmed by Rob and Genevieve Mann. The grapes were harvested by hand and whole bunch pressed before natural fermentation. A portion was fermented in seasoned French oak barriques. Both the barrels and stainless components were then aged on gross lees for 7 months prior to blending and bottling. Soil : Houghton Loam.

Vino Volta ‘Funky and Fearless’

The fruit comes from 30+ year old ‘Rockets’ Vineyard (certified organic) in upper swan, on deep swan red loam. Whole bunch pressed to old, large format French oak. Naturally high solids ferment, monthly lees stirring with 9 months in barrel prior to blending and bottling.

Swan Valley Wines

Very old vines in the Swan. Hand-picked fruit was whole bunch pressed to stainless steel for settling without additions. Fermentation in seasoned French oak barriques without lees stirring, possibly even some ceramic egg used. Racked to stainless steel after four months maturation.

Faber Vineyards

Fruit hand-picked on the darling escarpment Shallow sandy gravel over a thick layer of ironstone laterite  and below a deep clay. Barrel fermented chenin blanc pressings that spend 3 months in ex chardonnay casks prior to blending and bottling.

AUSTRALIA

Aphelion Wines Blewitt Springs

The fruit is from 50-year-old vines in a single vineyard in Blewitt Springs, McLaren Vale owned by the Brini family. This site is cooler than the rest of the Vale making it an ideal sub-region for white varietals so that they can retain more of their natural acidity. The fruit was separated in to two different ferments – one in tank, the other in neutral French oak barriques. The oak portion was fermented using wild yeasts and kept on ferment lees un-sulphured with weekly battonage for four months. The two portions were blended just prior to bottling.

Yayoi wines

Sourced from a dry-grown, organically farmed vineyard in the highest region of Blewitt Springs, McLaren Vale. The 65-year-old vines are planted and farmed by the 3rd generation Brini family. The deep sandy soils and cooling maritime influence contribute to a wine with lifted aromatics, natural acidity, and fine phenolic structure. Fruit was hand-picked, destemmed, and cold-soaked on skins for 48 hours to enhance aromatic complexity and phenolic depth. It was gently pressed and left to settle overnight before being racked with light solids into new French oak barrels for wild fermentation. After fermentation, the wine was transferred to old large-format oak for 9 months of maturation on lees, without bâtonnage.

MMAD Blewitt Springs

Located in the dress circle of Blewitt Springs, MMAD Vineyard chenin from two blocks- one planted in 1964 The vineyard has the fine Maslin sands found in Blewitt Springs, and is exposed to the fresh sea breezes from the south- west. Below the sand is a layer of ironstone pebbles, and this combination of sand, ironstone, and cooling winds gives both perfume and structure to the wines. The fruit was hand-picked, and approximately half was whole bunch pressed to old French oak puncheons, and the balance crushed for more skin contact, and fermented in concrete vats before going to puncheons.

Castagna Beechworth 

The Castagna vineyard is situated at an altitude of 500 meters. Five km outside Beechworth in North East Victoria, high in the foothills of the Australian Alps. The vineyard was planted in 1997 on soils consisting of decomposed granitic loam. Winemaking is very simple and traditional, believing the wine is made in the vineyard not in the winery. Very simply whole bunch pressed into used French wood, a mixture of barriques and puncheons, goes through malo if it wants to, mostly does. Aged about 14 months, before bottling.

NEW ZEALAND

Milton Vineyards

Over the years our determination to produce one of the world’s best wines from this variety is a seasonal challenge and a bottled fantasy. In 2021 we did four selections from the vineyard of hand-harvested the grapes. On the crush pad, the stems are discarded as these grapes give up their juice very easily during the long slow press cycle. The juice is collected together and allowed to settle for only a short time as we wish to keep the fine sediments, for it is here that all the nutrients lie which satisfy a well-behaved fermentation. The fermentation and maturation take place in demi-muids (large 600-litre oak barrels) and stainless-steel tanks. The wine matures in these vessels over time, and without the obtrusion of oak tannins, which would otherwise disrespect the subtle fruit aromas.

UNITED STATES

Beau Rivage Clarksburg California

Drawn from some of Clarksburg’s oldest vines, planted in the 1960s and sourced from a long-term organic grower. The grapes are picked in two lots: those from the sunny side of the vine were crushed to release extract, while fruit from the shadier side was pressed as whole clusters using a very long, firm cycle. The musts are fermented with indigenous yeasts and were raised in eight-year-old, low-toast Burgundy barrels. William Kelley uses more and more solids each year, with the wine building texture and drive from its time on lees.

Birichino Jurassic Park Vineyard Santa Ynez Valley California

The Jurassic Park Vineyard sits at 335m elevation on sandy, well-drained limestone-laden soils atop the playground of the dinosaurs of the Jurassic era. Planted in 1978, the age of this ungrafted Chenin vineyard qualifies it as "old" in Southern California. We treat it gently, ferment it with native yeasts, and keep it company through the winter. Fermentation and elevage for this wine now take place in a concrete egg and stainless barrel, rather than in predominantly steel and a few neutral oak barrel.

FRANCE

Domaine Francois et Julien Pinon Depuis 1786 sec Vouvray

Organic vines in the loire valley, planted on soils of black flint, clay and limestone. A hand harvest with 3 grape selections. Blend of vineyards on clay, 30 years old vines in average. Hand-picked, sorting in the vineyard, then on the sorting table, and then before pressing. The wine goes through 2 to 3 months fermentation, no added yeast, no chaptalisation. For Pinon this is the long natural fermentation with indigenous yeast that contribute to expressing the personality of this terroir. Ageing on lees in oak barrel and foudre for 4 to 5 months. 

Arnaud Lambert Breze Blanc Clos de Midi Saumur

From his largest single holding of 3.5ha of south east facing vines planted in 1985 on light sandy clay soil over limestone. Vinification using no SO2 in stainless steel tank with indigenous yeast and no malolactic.

SOUTH AFRICA

David and Nadia

The core of the wine is made up from vineyards planted in granitic soils from the Paardeberg and also brown shale (anomaly) from the same mountain. Furthermore, grapes from a vineyard west of Malmesbury planted in clay rich soils with a high iron content, on limestone also form an important component of the wine. The final vineyard was planted in sand with some clay that holds iron minerals. In total the wine is made from eight vineyards, no less than 25 pickings, different soils, different aspects, different vineyard ages and different maturity levels to create focused, detailed and balanced wines from our warm climate. The grapes were whole bunch pressed and naturally fermented and then matured for 11 months in old neutral French oak barrels and 20% concrete. 

Mullineux Kloof Street

The grapes for our 2022 Chenin Blanc come from three sustainably farmed vineyard parcels in different parts of the Swartland: One parcel of 40-year-old Chenin planted in the stony Shale and Schist based soils of Kasteelberg, and two parcels of 40+ year-old dryland, bush vine Chenin grown in the decomposed Granite soils of the Paardeberg. The grapes were chilled in our cold room then pressed whole-bunch, which allowed for the juice to settle overnight. The juice was then racked to tank and older French oak barrels for fermentation with indigenous yeasts and this process lasted approximately six weeks. The barrels were then racked, blended with the tank fermented portion and bottled. RS 1.8 g/l - TA 5.4 g/l - pH 3.56