Cline Viognier
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:
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.
Hey Tim! Thanks for linking me. Great website here…I’ll have to poke around. You make me feel like such an amateur, lol…
Hi Christine. You’re not an amateur at all. I wouldn’t have linked to you if I didn’t think your review was worthwhile. 😉 Cheers!