Chenin Blanc---the Rodney Dangerfield of White Wines

One of the lessons in the UC Davis online course mentioned that Chenin Blanc is used to make bulk or jug wine in California. In Oz Clarke's Encyclopedia of Grapes, he writes:
It hasn't always been easy being a Loire Valley grape. For years on end nobody elsewhere took much notice of you. If they wanted Sauvignon Blanc they went to New Zealand. If they wanted Chenin Blanc---well, on the whole, they didn't want Chenin Blanc.
With those kinds of recommendations it's hard to develop a liking for Chenin Blanc, but we fell in love with it when we went to Cheeky Monkey, a wonderful restaurant in Narragansett, Rhode Island, which, unfortunately is no longer in operation. (Come back, Cheeky Monkey!) They were serving something called Petit Chenin from Ken Forrester and it went absolutely perfectly with the Matunuck oysters we had. From that day on, we were on the lookout for Chenin Blanc. We had had some Vouvrays before such as a 2009 Laurent Kraft.

While taking the Viticulture portion of the UC Davis Online course, I learned that Paumanok Vineyards located across from us on the North Fork of Long Island was growing and producing highly acclaimed Chenin Blanc. I needed to figure out what kind of rootstock was used in our area and I emailed Charles Massoud of Paumanok. He very kindly replied to me.
Since then, we have tried other Chenin Blanc from Vouvray and have found a new love for Chenin Blanc in the wines made by Gaston Huet's son-in-law, Noel Pinguet. The Domaine Huet Le Haut-Lieu and Le Mont are exquisite expressions of Chenin Blanc but we especially like Le Clos du Bourg.