Viognier - August 12th, 2009 - Ms. Deb & Ms. Jennifer

Viognier - August 12th, 2009 - Ms. Deb & Ms. Jennifer

Wikipedia: About Viognier a white wine.
Pairings: Viognier pairs well with spicy food, vegatarian cuisine, and cheeses. Per a recent article from Snooth.com, Viognier pairs well with creamy Camembert, Ricotta Salata, or Goat Gouda. For our tasting, we had various seedcrackers with chili sauces, basil rolls with thai and peanut sauces, and crackers with hummus.
About: (jokingly, Deb & Jennifer call it Vee-on-yippee-yi-yay). Was previously an endangered grape as there were only 35 acres left in France in the 60s. Now there are more than 2001 acres in California, and vineyards in Colorado, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, TX, VA, and Washington. The grape is shy, difficult to grow, drought tolerant, but can get mildewy very easily. Grape has high sugar/low acidity, and is attractive to Chardonnay drinkers.
Words: Citrus, pear, peach, iris, ylang ylang, musk, honey, lychee, marmalade

Abbie's Tasting Notes:
1) Viognier Bears Lair 2007 - Trader Joe's $5.99
Color - clear/pale yellow, some hint of green. Nose - lightly peachy. Taste - pear, apple, light citrus. Sarah says "rounded"

2) Viognier Toasted Head 2007 - Dunnegan Hills $7-8 on sale (usually runs about $12.99)
Color - Goldy, too golden, reminds me of Chardonnay. Nose - stronger scent, honeydew melon, toasted oak. Taste - buttery, vanilla-ish, citrus, sweeter. Deb says "Long legs for a white"

3) Viognier Les Piliers 2008 - Total Wine $14.ish
French, earth friendly wine. Color - Light, yellowy, greenish straw. Nose - subtle apple, lite oak, gardenia maybe? honey citrus. Taste - tart, yet lingering, a little apricot, dry. Label on bottle says it pairs well with lobster and cream sauce. mmm FAVE!

4) Viognier Honey Moon 2007 - Trader Joe's $5.99
Color - Light, clear gold, yellow/green. Nose - Light, summery, ocean air. Taste - light, crispy yet lingering, coaxes you to try more, makes me salivate like I do with pineapple, tropical flavor. Label on bottle says pairs well with Thai food, coconut, curry. 2nd favorite of the bunch.

5) Viognier White Knight 2006 - Harry's Market $13.99
Color - golden, clear-ish. Nose: Ripe, stanky, lime, smells like chardonnay (can you tell I am not a chardonnay fan?). Taste - bland, air, quick, muddled, blah, nothing. No follow-thru, it's a teaser and there's no satisfaction at the end. Definitely not the Viagra of Viognier.

6) Viognier Bears Lair 2007 - Trader Joe's $5.99
Color - yellowgreen. Nose - no smell at all. Taste - nice, subtle, light, summery, herbacious, greeny. Perfect beginning course wine.

The winner of this evening's tasting was wine #3! The Les Piliers Viognier 2008. Delicious!