Having pushed the “Viognier is a noble grape” wheel-barrow to all & sundry I had the immense pleasure of tasting a number of different expressions of the variety with Julian Coldrey of Full Pour on the weekend. His no doubt more detailed and well written thoughts can be found here-
Meanwhile I’ll pursue the more blunt approach that often seems to be a hallmark of my writing. Subtle as a hammer can work too.
2009 LAZY BALLERINA VIOGNIER ($15)
I chose this as the best option to begin the tasting as I’d already sunk a few bottles and knew a little of the intent behind the wine. It’s a racy style made for summer enjoyment. And it achieves that end well. This bottle opened a little soapy but that mostly blew off within the first few minutes to reveal the heart of the endeavour. Bright fresh lemons, peeled like an orange but with the pith left on in places. The acidity drives the wine which is tight & linear, widening on the mid palate to include Seville Oranges before the pithy texture hauls it back into a penetrating and tangy finish. There is positive bitterness to the wine which is a real point of interest. It somehow reminds me of those lemon and quinine drinks you used to be able to get at the shops. This is a world away from varietally correct Viognier, but that doesn’t put me off as I’m a world away from Neo-Platonic thinking.
2009 TAHBILK VIOGNIER ($17)
Whilst in the leaner camp stylistically, this had a classic Viognier flavour profile; Honey-suckle, dried apricots, apricot flesh and ginger. I’m thinking this will drink better in a years time, as the next day it had filled out a little. But at the time the fruit flavours were at the lighter end of expressiveness, highlighting the ginger. Phenolics are often a problem in Viognier & on occasions I found them to be so here. The slightly oily texture kept them in check but now & then they gripped, like a man sliding down a rope sometimes gaining a bit of traction to slow the descent. It’s a good wine at a good price, but I longed for a touch more complexity and opulence than was on show at the moment. I reckon it would be an excellent wine to get Viognier doubters exploring the grape.
2008 ISHTAR GODDESS WHITE VIOGNIER ($19.50)
Immensely satisfying wine here. My first thoughts were “Oh, here comes the oak” followed by “At last, we have a Viognier with musky notes”. In actual fact the oak, whilst prominent is used in the most intelligent of ways, softening the wine and, along with hints of varietal slipperiness, keeping the phenolics in check to achieve a quite lovely balance. Ginger, apricot & other stone fruits, white flowers and some enjoyable earthy cumin aspects which were most prominent on the finish. Impressive, varietal but distinct & individual.
2009 CLONAKILLA NOUVEAU VIOGNIER ($22)
No oak here just the pure joy of unhindered varietal expression. Florals, honey, just ripe apricot and ginger all in perfect balance along with a touch of bubblegum at the end adding some quirkiness and fun. Completely cohesive & poised this has a really good sense of complexity without being just a din of flavours. Defined and taught but it doesn’t close the door on the opulence inherent in the variety’s potential. Drinking beautifully right now and quite delicious.
2009 BLUE POLES VIOGNIER ($17.50)
The wine that asked the most questions in the tasting. As you might expect from a wine in the Blue Poles stable. And to me it is more a “Blue Poles White” than a Viognier. If you are new to reading my notes, please understand that I consider that to be a good thing. At the same time I didn’t think a comparative tasting of Viogniers did this any great favours. It’s all subtlety and structure. Flowers, citrus, apricot kernel, spice and some bread like aromas & flavours. The oak is well judged and of high quality and the lees adds a softness to the middle palate which is playful against the minerality and on the finish. I did keep thinking back to the 2007 of this, which I adored & think that this may really shine in another year or two. Not that it isn’t impressive now.
2008 CLONAKILLA VIOGNIER ($45)
The bomb. Equal with the 2008 Yalumba Virgilius in terms of quality but a completely different style of wine. There is honeycomb, freshly chopped ginger… Oh, who am I kidding. Writing a list of flavours in some way just won’t do justice to this wine. The fruit is amazing, the oak treatment brilliant, the texture divine and the interest level off the charts. You feel like you are in the presence of something truly special with a glass of this in your hand. So you just award it wine of the tasting and start serving the Thai food until the bottle is empty. Tim Kirk is a God. Although he is also a theologian so I’m not sure how he might take me saying that. Anyway, it means a lot coming from an Integral Atheist.
A generous thanks to Julian for providing the wines for this tasting. I hope my choice of films to end the night repaid him in some small way. I think the wines presented a pretty good case for the worth of the grape in this country. Something UK wine writer Andrew Jefford metioned in a speech just recently…
Sounds like you've been to heaven and back Jeremy
A great overview of the different stylistic directions taken to viognier by makers/regions right across Australia.
I was very surprised and impressed by a glass of a McLaren Vale viognier I had recently JP, the 2008 Maximus. It's rather restrained and mineral, with maybe a trace of stonefruit/apricot apparent as an undertone. Its palate however, is very clean, juicy, refreshingly long and balanced. A surprisingly good food viognier I thought.
It might be difficult to source in Bris Vegas but for a viognier guru like yourself it might be very rewarding.
I haven't tried it yet but I've also read several good local reports about Ngeringa's Adelaide Hills Viognier (which only comes in 375ml bottles)
Another possibility from SA?
Keep up the passionate viognier swilling and promotion JP
Cheers,
Chris P
Yes, to have 6 bottles of Viognier open in one day is always a happy occasion for me
I'll add the Maximus & the Ngeringa to a growing list of Viogniers I have to get around to tasting. Which is, in part, the interesting thing. Once people are aware I fancy Viognier there are no shortage of recommendations, indicating to me that the grape does have an audience & wine makers are willing to explore the variety.
The other point worthy of noting is that none of the Viogniers in this tasting fell into the fat & oily spectrum. Outside of Yalumba (Whilst not fat & oily to me, still a more opulent and Condrieu like expression), perhaps this is the direction that Oz Viognier is heading. And I for one applaud that as it doesn't fall into the trap of just "copying what the French do".
And even Yalumba are scaling back the flavours and richness, as is evident in the 2008 Virgilius. I suppose when Len Evans basically tells you too (as he did in a public speech after tasting the 2002 Virgilius at a Yalumba dinner) it makes sense to listen.
Thanks Chris.
Cheers
j
Nice review of a wine style that is not close to my heart, but one I want to try more of. No dramas with the style of the tasting notes, and blunt is good for me!
Thanks Brown. There are still a lot of shite Viogniers out there. But more and more quality examples are emerging. I hope you get to try some of the gooduns.
As for my "bluntness", I always hope it makes readers aware that I'm not the pretentious toff I can sometimes seem
Cheers
jeremy
I have held off answering to this thread because I'm trying to get to grips with the outcome myself. Believe me when I say that Blue Poles hasn't gone out of its way to create something away from the norm – it just seems to be an outcome of the way we grow, pick and vinify. We all use the same clone predominantly (1968, but some have the heat treated and there are some new ones coming in), but this is a variety where you can alter the wine dramatically by the way you treat the grapes in the vineyard and the winery.
The lighter, more complex styles have turned up due to the desire of many to avoid the oily phenolics which were so prevalent ~5 years ago, and thankfully they are now receding. Much of this style was based on the idea that we can wait as long as the French for picking the grapes, and in fact we can't – our styles won't be mimics of Condrieau as those wines have the capacity to keep the subtle flavours late into the vintage, Aus viognier just runs to canned apricot and that isn't attractive as a drinking wine in my opinion.
Like chardonnay, this variety when flavoursome lends itself to oak ferment – but not full on new oak but a range of aged oak to provide the subtle framing that sort of works. The 2007 Blue Poles was all barrel fermented, the 09 20% BF – this year we're aiming for 50% BF as I feel it will provide the best level of complexity in the wine without overdoing it. Thus if we are playing around with the level of treatments and picking times etc, everyone else will be as well and this means there may be a range of the wines like Chardonnay that will satisfy many a drinker. I like the grape, i'd rather drink our wine than most Sauvignon Blancs because of the interesting flavours on the palate, rather than having a great smelling wine with a simple shot of acid to finish.
The 09 tasted here will improve over the next few months to a year or so – it won't age like the best of the Condrieau's (though this has a level of conjecture thrown in as many just go to cr@p), but we believe many Viogniers need a bit of extra time before release and we hope to do this ourselves with the 2010.
Cheers to you both for taking a good look at the wines as this sort of information is of great help to myself as well. Merry Christmas J.
Cheers
Mark
Thanks for that information Mark. As someone with only very basic knowledge of grape growing & winemaking it's invaluable to get this sort of feedback. Fascinating details on the barrel ferment plans too. I must say the stand out Viogniers I have tasted have generally seen some oak, although the Clonakilla Nouveau showed me how good the variety could be without it.
Also great to hear some of the specifics on why a lot of Oz Viognier is heading away from the Condrieau model. It seems it's not just a matter of stylistic intent but rather an intelligent adaptation of the grape to suit the growing conditions encountered around Australia. Which to me is another sign Australian wine "growing up".
Merry Christmas to you too Mark, and everyone at Blue Poles. I can honestly say that discovering the wines that you produce(via The Wine Front) has been one of the most exciting things I've had the pleasure of doing this year and I look forward to exploring them more over time & in coming vintages.
cheers
jeremy