I first met Viognier in 2006 in our Wine Professionals certification course and I fell in love, like head over heels, can’t stop thinking about it, flush and flirty knocked out of normal in love with this wine. The powerful one-two punch of floral and fruit covers your tongue with a rich lush flavor; it’s a dry wine but it’s liquid gold, an experience of tropical sensations, a drink that engages your senses. I’ve been ga-ga over it ever since and it’s my top selection on the first nice day of Spring when I can sip a glass on the patio, the soft breeze around me and the earth bursting out green at my feet.
My very first viognier was a classic Condrieu from the Northern Rhone; it literally danced in my mouth. Other subsequent bottles were just as gorgeous, delectable in their own way but with a more manageable price point. A true Condrieu won’t be cheap, but it won’t strip your wallet either. The dollars that pass through your hands will be well worth it, but there is so much more to love about this lush white grape without going in to debt.
The viognier grape, just for a smidge of history, was considered extinct as near as 1965, and was endangered in the 1980′s. It’s a difficult grape to cultivate as it can be prone to powdery mildew, can have low and unpredictable yields and needs to be picked when fully ripe in order to have all it’s aromas and flavors fully developed. Two strains of viognier grape have been identified; the ‘Old World’ that is primarily found in the Condrieu region, and a ‘New World’ strain that grows in the Languedoc, among other areas. They will produce remarkably different wines.
The viognier grape has made quite the comeback, now being planted more extensively around the world since the ’90′s, primarily in California, Australia- heavily in the Yalumba area where it is often blended with shiraz- with Chile and Argentina staking down the viognier vines in South America. This bottle I had- a 2008 Miguel Torres Tormenta Viognier from Chile, opened on a truly gorgeous spring day in Minnesota, was an organic offering from that country. I’ve been indulging in California viognier and felt it worthy to step to another continent to explore this treasured white.
The wine was an eye-opening change from the rich and lush California viognier. My first sip was so different from what I expected that I set the glass down for a moment, pondering the bottle in front of me. With more swirling, and time to allow the wine to open up, it began to offer up it’s fruits- ripe white peach and crisp pear with hints of pineapple and papaya- but with a distinctively different approach, almost minerally and far more noteworthy of a chenin blanc or a very dry pinot grigio, pulling at my mouth with slight acidity but also leaving me flush with that viognier spirit, the one that makes me dream of white sand, hammocks and heartbreaking blue skies touched with sunlight. A well-worthy side road from the norm, the chilean viognier was full of flavor that was far more subtle but still grasping the essence of the grape. With a price tag below $15, it’s a terrific option for those of us helplessly in love.
