Give it a go part 5- Viognier!

So before we go any further about this grape which people know very little about (at the risk of sounding like my primary teacher... no offence to any teachers reading this blog...) we first of all need to work on the pronunciation... its not vogue-nay, its not vog-neer its Vee-on-yay! Second of all this grape has not always been every ones cup of tea! Back in 1965 only 8 hectares of the grape existed in its Northern Rhone homeland of Condrieu so i suppose people can be forgiven for not knowing the pronunciation. Since then the grape has gradually made its way back into the hearts of wine lovers all over the world, but yet we still don't get enough people into the store asking for it as we should. As a general rule of thumb its a great grape- especially if you're fond of red wine and want to make the transition over to white wine! But the thing about it is, people will always be surprised by it!!!

Viognier is extremely difficult to grow, so its no surprise (that's once...) that it isn't a household name like the chardonnays or the sauvignon blancs. But nevertheless it's generally the really difficult grapes- such as pinot noir, or malbec- that hold the greatest surprises (twice). And surprises (again with the word surprise...) is all this wine holds! Its colour is clear and golden, and the aromas are very floral. Yet while all these indicators point at a very sweet wine, what they actually offer is a surprising (surely a thesaurus would come in handy...) dryness both on the tongue and afterwards. Viognier is best know for its Apricot, Peach, and Spice flavours! which generally makes the almost perfect accompaniment to thai or chinesse dishes! (and i say almost perfect because i don't believe there is a perfect wine accompaniment to chinese or thai dishes!) (but this one certainly is close....).

One Viognier we sell in store is the Australian Yalumba Y-Series Viognier. This wine oozes flavours of ripe apricots, lychee, honey, and peach. It has a Surprising (i know what you're thinking now... "that's just unnecessary!") slight creamy texture with a punchy and powerful long finish. If at this stage your looking for something different then i think viognier will certainly give that to you! As i said at the start of this amazing blog of mine, it makes for the perfect transitory wine for people looking to move from red to white- but this principal also works the other way! All I'll leave ye with now is this! Give it a go! Ye'll be surprised!!!!