Chenin Blanc

Vouvray is the great Chenin Blanc of France's Loire Valley, here in its off-dry demi-sec guise — a gold-tinged white whose vivid acidity holds a faint sweetness in balance, smelling of ripe apple, quince, honey and chamomile over a chalky, wet-wool minerality. It is the wine world's diplomat, bridging savoury and faintly sweet dishes and soothing chilli heat where drier whites would clash.