Last weekend I attended the North American Wine Bloggers Conference, which was held in Charlottesville, Virginia this year.  I came back with a nasty summer cold, which is why I haven’t written anything in a week, but I’m feeling much better now.  I also came back with an appreciation for Virginian wine.  While I had heard good things about it, I just don’t come across much of it.  In fact, I can’t recall ever seeing a bottle of Virginia wine on shelves in my area.  And that’s a shame, as there are some really good producers there making some exceptional wine.

But, alas, this review is not about a Virginian wine.  It’s about another Californian wine.  Let’s face it, they just produce more and have better distribution.  But I will relate this back to Virginia for a moment, just to say that this review is about a varietal that performs quite well in Virginia, viognier.  If you have an opportunity to taste a Virginian viognier, I’d say get on top of it!

Before I left for the conference, I had done a review about Cline Marsanne Roussanne, highlighting a couple nice Rhone varietals being produced outside of the Rhone.  This viognier is also a Rhone varietal, but a much more common one to be found in US vineyards.  It’s a varietal known for creating highly aromatic wines, with floral fragrances.  It’s also a good pick for spicy food, like Thai.  This particular one comes from the North Coast region in California.

This viognier from Cline Cellars smells pretty much like I expect a viognier to smell, but it lacks a bit of intensity — not that extreme intensity is something I expect.  It has a nice floral aroma, with citrus and wet stone undertones.  The palate has really nice fruit flavors, with peach being the most prominent but I’d also say it’s got a pineapple aspect to it as well as a lime flavor that shows up in the mid-palate and into the finish.  The mouth feel is soft and slightly oily, which isn’t uncommon for a viognier.  The acidity is sufficient.  While not mind-blowingly good, this is still a decent viognier at a nice price.

Wine: Cline Viognier
Variety: Viognier
Vintage: 2010
Alcohol: 14%
Rating: 84
Price:  $11.99

Find Cline Viognier with Snooth

Want another opinion?  Here’s what some other reviewers thought of the 2010 Cline Viognier:

• Christine Ashworth
• Corkscrews & Curls

Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.

A couple weeks ago, I did a lengthy writeup about my recent visit to Paso Robles.  But I didn’t highlight any of the specific wines I tasted there.  Tonight I want to touch on a few wines I tasted on that visit, from Villacana Winery.

Villacana is a small winery run by a husband and wife team, Alex and Monica Villacana.  Of course “small” is all relative.  The property, which they purchased in 1996, is 72 acres on the west side of Paso Robles.  Now you may be thinking that 72 acres seems big not small, but only 13 acres of the property are vineyards and their total production is under 2,000 cases.  Therefore, I’d say they officially qualify as a “small winery.”

The soil in the vineyard varies from calcareous soils to acidic shales and the Villacanas have chosen locations for different varieties of vines where they will perform the best.  They produce a combination of Rhone varietals, which do better on the calcareous soils, and Bordeaux varietals, which do best with the shale.  The vineyards are also at a high elevation, which brings some challenging winds.

Part of their philosophy in wine production, consistent with others I met in Paso Robles, is they let each vintage express the wine uniquely.  They don’t want to manipulate the juice to achieve consistency from one vintage to the next.

In addition to their wines, they are making plans to get a still so that they can produce grappa and vodka.

I had the opportunity to taste three of their wines, the viognier, the cabernet sauvignon and the syrah.  Here are my notes on each.  I should point out that because I didn’t taste these in my normal environment, with my normal process, I did not score the wines.  But, I assure you that they were all good.

Villacana Viognier 2010

This wine has a light, almost watery appearance, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s going to be a thin wine.  The nose has good intensity with very nice floral aromatics, apricot and a touch of mineral.  On the palate, it shows a pleasant apricot and lime flavor, with good concentration to the fruit.   Priced at $24.00, it’s a nice wine.

Villacana Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

The appearance of this wine is a shimmering brick red color.  It has outstanding intensity on the nose, with big black cherry aromas and a hint of red raspberry.  The palate offers deep black cherry flavors without being jammy.  The acidity is excellent.  It has a very long, very rich finish, filled with fruit and vibrant acidity.

The wine is a blend of 80% cabernet sauvignon with 20% merlot.  It was oaked in neutral barrels.  This is a very good wine and sells for $28.00.

Villacana Syrah 2008

Purplish-red in color, this wine shows complex aromas on the nose, including smoked meats, blackberry, cherry and nutmeg.  On the palate it has a really nice mouthfeel with rich tannins.  The acidity makes it lively too.  The flavors are ripe blackberries and spice.  It has a long finish with plenty of berry flavors.  This is another tasty wine and sells for $30.00.

Disclosure: I visited Paso Robles on a press junket with the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance.  My travel and accommodations where covered as a part of this trip and these wines were provided as samples.  I was not required to write about Paso Robles or Villacana.  The opinions expressed here are 100% my own.

This week I’m looking at some good wines to spice up your Valentine’s Day and to me Viognier is one of the sexiest white wines you can find.  It’s known for having very perfumed aromas, like a bouquet of flowers.  It’s also fairly delicate on the palate—not an overpowering wine—and sometimes has a slightly oily quality to the wine. Oh… and it’s pronounced vee-ohn-yay.

Viognier goes great with spicy foods, like Thai curries.  So, if you’re date wants some spicy Asian food, this may be the wine to pick.  It also goes well with fish, shellfish, light cheeses and vegetables.  I enjoyed it with tilapia and spinach with a little lemon, wine and garlic.

Those from my generation or older may recognize the name on this particular Viognier, Fess Parker, as the actor who played both Danial Boon and Davey Crockett.  This caused a lot of confusion for me as a child, as for years I thought Daniel Boone and Davey Crockett were one in the same.  By now I’ve gotten over that confusion and gained an appreciation for the wines he has gone on to produce.  Parker started producing wine in 1989, with just a few acres, but now has nearly 700 acres of vineyards in Santa Barbara County, California.  He does give a nod to his coon-skin-capped heritage with a small cap icon on the label.

This wine has everything I expect from a Viognier and it’s put together quite well.  The nose is exceptionally floral, with a bit of oiliness, honey and alcohol.  On the palate it has outstanding apricot flavors, subtle pineapple and a malolactic butteriness.  All told, this I found this to be a very enjoyable Viognier.

At $18.00, this wine may be a little bit more than you typically spend, but it’s a very good wine.  And for a special occasion, like Valentine’s Day, I’d say it’s worth the trade up.

Wine: Fess Parker
Varietal: Viognier
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol: 14.9%
Rating: 90
Price: $18.00