Viognier

Benziger Winery, Glen Ellen

I guess it’s not a big surprise that I would like such an interesting wine with a fascinating history that almost went extinct. Besides, it really tastes good and is very different from other wines. It seems to be a real troublemaker for its growers, too. Sometimes I think I just have a great appreciation for truly good things in life that are difficult to achieve. They are somehow the sweetest victories of all.

Viognier – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The origin of Viognier is not completely known with several theories abounding. Most experts agree that Viognier is an ancient grape that may have originated in Dalmatia and was brought to Rhône by the Romans.[2] One legend state that the Roman emperor Probus brought the vine himself to the region in AD 281. Another legend has the grape packaged with Syrah on a cargo ship navigating the Rhone River en route to Beaujolais when it was captured by a local group of outlaws known as culs de piaux near the site of present day Condrieu.[3]

The origins of the name Viognier is similarly obscured with the most common namesake being the French city of Vienne which was a major Roman outpost. Another legend has it drawing its name from the Roman pronunciation of the via Gehennae meaning the “road to Hell” as a possible allusion to the grapes difficulties in growing.[3]

Viognier was once a fairly common grape, though it is now a rare white grape grown almost exclusively in the northern Rhône regions of France. Around the 1960s, the grape was almost extinct when there were only eight acres in Northern Rhône. The popularity of the wine, as well as its price, has risen and thus the number of plantings have increased. Rhône now has over 740 acres (3 km²) planted.[2]

Viognier has been planted much more extensively around the world since the early 1990s. Both California and Australia now have significant amounts of land devoted to the Viognier grape. There are also notable increases in planting in other states of the United States and in other countries.

The decline of Viognier in France from its historic peak has much to do with the disastrous introduction of phylloxera insects from North America into Europe in the mid- and late-1800s, followed by the abandonment of the vineyards due to the chaos of World War I. By 1965, only about 30 acres of Viognier vines remained in France, and the variety was nearly extinct. Even as late as the mid-1980s, Viognier in France was endangered. Paralleling the growth of Viognier in the rest of the world, plantings in France have grown dramatically since then.

I kind of enjoyed this description. It’s filled with the usual wine-tasting idiocy, but it does give you some idea of how good this wine really is:

For those who haven’t experienced Viognier, the first glass is quite a revelation. First and foremost there is the wine’s heady perfume — a melange consisting of all or some of the following: honeysuckle, citrus blossoms, oriental lychee nuts, very ripe white melon, freshly picked peaches and apricots, and ripe pears just after they’ve been peeled — that immediately gets your attention. According to Craig Williams, winemaker at Joseph Phelps Vineyards, Viognier contains floral compounds (called terpens) that are also found in Muscat and Riesling. So, think of the most wonderfully aromatic Muscat or Riesling you’ve ever encountered, then concentrate and double that perfume and you have Viognier.

Your nose tells you the wine will be sweet — like a Muscat — but your palate is surprised to encounter a dry nectar offering flavors that resemble a mixture of ripe pears, lemon-lime citrus, almonds, spice, peaches and apricots, sometimes with a honied nuance. Lush and viscous on the palate with more body than most Chardonnays, the wine’s aftertaste is not at all cloying, but fresh and vibrant, impelling you to take another sip.

More on Viognier here, including this quote, which made me smile:

Oz Clarke describes this as a ‘swooning wine ….. wine that just oozed sex and sensuality.’

Yeah, well, maybe that’s why I really like this wine!