Wine Review - 2010 False Bay Chenin Blanc: Full Flavoured White Wine At A Less Than Full Flavoured Price

Last evening we had this wine from False Bay Wines. From South Africa it is a very full flavourful Chenin Blanc grown and produced on the Western Cape.  It is also known as Steen in South Africa but it retains one of its French names in this version.  Unbeknownst to us Chenin Blanc is also known as Pineau de la Loire in France and is a grape that has a lot of interpretations in terms of wine making (thank you again Wikipedia).  This version is a crisp and full flavoured white wine.  It has a lot of nice smells and tastes and at $13 is a great value.

In the glass it is a very pale golden colour and has seen no oak according to the False Bay website.  It is a light wine visually which belies the actual body in the glass.  The nose is very apple/pear with definitely a starfruit undertone.  It is a really nice aromatic wine and is also light compared to the taste.

Now onto the taste, it has such a great mouthfeel for what would be considered a lighter white wine.  This wine tastes really great.  It has a lot of the apple again on the palate with almost an ever so subtle candy cane undertone (seriously) that is so nice when you aerate the wine in your mouth.  The finish is tart which balances the bright acidity in the wine.  Love that crisp acidity that backs it up with nice fruit flavours.  This is definitely a dry white wine but there is just a hint of sugar when you first taste it (think a millisecond of sweetness) which adds to the overall balance....again a nice touch.

	Tasting Notes:	Score:
Sight (0-5)	Pale golden colour with clear gleaming shine	4.0
Smell (0-5)	Apple and pear with starfruit notes.  Light nose for the depth of flavour	4.25
Taste (0-10)	Well balanced wine with the apple that carries through with lots of crisp acidity and really nice minty notes that are just a light follow-up in the wine.	8.0
	Total:	16.25 / 20  (81.25%)

Awesome wine with a great price.  This might make a repeat when the weather finally warms up.  Chenin Blanc is another one we may need to try more of over time.  Interesting grape.

Keep on drinking!

Chris & Shannon