Petit Chenin Blanc 2019



Spring starts with the first breath of warm weather breaking through winter’s chill.  It might be the sun in the afternoon or the melting of the snow from the shaded places where the sun can’t reach in the winter.  Before long, hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, and snowdrops are peaking through the dirt to paint gardens with pastel colors.  Then the leaves on trees begin to appear and the wisteria blooms along roads and in trees.

It’s time for white wines to return like lightning bugs in the summertime.

When winter descends, I pack away most white wines like my summer clothes.  They simply don’t appeal to me during winter’s chill – other than the occasional heavy white with the right food.  I focus on thick, full-bodied reds that keep you warm in front of the fire.

With the return of warm weather, I’m ready for tropical fruit, flowers, and minerality of white wine.  Bring on the eighty-degree days, my back porch evenings, and a nice, easy to drink, white wine.

Ken Forrester’s Petit Chenin Blanc is dry and acidic with lots of citrus fruit: lemon, lime, and pineapple.  Sprinkled on top of those fruits are green apples, rounding this fruit salad like wine out into a nice, slightly tart, porch wine.  I like it best without food – an experience by itself of the beauty of summer wines.


 

Comments