Sutter Home Chenin Blanc California 750ml

Winery: Sutter Home

Varietal: Chenin Blanc

Chenin Blanc is widely recognized as being one of the finest and most versatile white wine grape varietals in the world. In their native home of France's Loire Valley, wineries have used this varietal for centuries to produce a wide range of excellent wines, made possible by the fact that the high acidity in the grapes allows vintners to produce everything from dry, still varieties, to sparkling crémants and sweet dessert wines. One of the key features of this grape, and one which has won it many admirers, is the fact that the transparency of the varietal allows it to express the finer features of the terroir it is grown on, and also allows it to demonstrate the skill of the winemaker in the bottle. These grapes are a hardy varietal, growing well in moderate climates and in heavy clay-like soils all over the wine producing world.

Region: California

It isn't difficult to see how California became one of the world's most important, successful and influential wine regions. Since the first vines were planted in the state by Spanish pioneers in the 18th century, the region has made the most of its ideal climatic conditions, which range from hot, dry and arid to windswept and cool, for vineyard cultivation and wine production. Today, California has almost half a million acres under vine, and hundreds of independent and well established wineries dotted across its vast wine-making areas. Californian wines range from the traditional, and those emulating fine Old World wines, to the experimental and unique, and it is the home to many of the world's most exciting and trailblazing wineries producing excellent bottles for the global market.

Country: United States

For three hundred years now, the United States has been leading the New World in wine production, both in regards to quantity and quality. Wine is actually produced in all fifty states across the country, with California leading the way by an enormous margin. Indeed, as much as eighty-nine percent of all wines to come out of the United States are produced in California, where the fertile soils and sloping mountain sides, coupled with the long, hot summers provide ideal conditions for producing high quality, European style red, white and rosé wines. With over a million acres of the country under vine, the United States sits comfortably as the fourth largest wine producer in the world, where imported grape varietals from all over the Old World are processed using a successful blend of traditional and contemporary techniques.