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Viognier is a white wine grape variety famously saved from the brink of extinction to become one of the world's most stylish, 'alternative' grape varieties. This story of salvation has captured the imagination of wine consumers as much as the grapes own inimitable character, and has no doubt helped to spur the grape's revival on into the twenty-first century. In the late 1960s the 40acres (16ha) of Viognier vines planted in the northern Rhone Valley were the last that remained anywhere in the world. Even these were proving uneconomical to maintain at that point, with the variety's low yields rarely covering the costs of maintaining and harvesting the steep slopes on which they were planted. They were used by just a tiny number of producers, and sold under two AOCS; Condrieu and its tiny enclave Chateau Grillet, both among France's very smallest appellations. It took a spark of interest from Yalumba in Australia's Eden Valley to breathe the first signs of life back into the variety, a new beginning built upon by a handful of enterprising winegrowers in California, notably Calera in the Mount Harlan AVA. It would be a serious challenge to keep up to date with current plantings of Viognier around the world, but it is safe to say that there are now many thousands of hectares producing many thousands of hectoliters of Viognier wine every vintage. The vine is now found in vineyards in France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the United States, Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and even Japan. Sometimes the plantings remain only experimental, as Rioja and Piedmont, where the local wine laws do not permit use of the grape, but in some locations Viognier has emerged as a prestigious niche variety, as in California and Australia. The reason for Viognier's near-tragic decline is, perversely enough, also the reason for its current prestige. It is not only hard to cultivate, but also loathe to give healthy or even reliable yields. Even if vignerons are determined enough to get the vines established, and sufficiently talented to get a good crop from them, they face the question of when to pick the grapes. Viognier grapes are naturally low in acid, and require a great deal of sunshine to ripen properly. But given too much heat they give overblown, hotly alcoholic wine lacking the fresh steely apricot zing which makes the grape worth growing in the first place. It is precisely this difficult balancing act which has led to so many Late Harvest Viogniers being created; as winemakers anxiously wait for their grapes to develop the right flavors the sugar levels go through the roof, leaving a sticky Late Harvest style the only sensible option. Both Condrieu and Chateau Grillet produce sweet versions of their wines to complement the dry, particularly in hot vintages which drive yields driven down and sugar levels up. However, the rewards of getting all of these factors right is considerable, and it is this which has driven so many pioneering vineyardists to take on the 'Viognier Challenge'. It's the same story with other awkward grapes like Nebbiolo and Pinot Noir, two other 'difficult' grapes which have earned cult status through their petulance. The terroir required to produce Viognier of high quality is not only a warm, sunny one, but one with a specific soil type. The steep granite slopes of Condrieu and Chateau Grillet have proved able to create perfumed Viognier wine which confidently treads the tight-rope between feminine, elegant fragrance and masculine, sinuous muscularity. On the Cote Rotie Viognier is co-fermented into the appellation's Syrah-based wines, and even the permitted 5% makes a significant difference to the suppleness of the final wines. Here, the limestone soils of the Cote Blonde have proved very well suited to the variety (and certainly better than the darker, ferrous schists of the Cote Brune). Other terrains have not proved so capable, particularly those lacking good drainage. Californian Viogniers in particular have tended towards the over-powerful end of the spectrum, many reaching and exceeding 15% ABV. Eden Valley Viognier remains the prime example of the variety in Australia, although the cooler areas of New South Wales are also producing some excellent examples.
Click on a listed Viognier
wine
below for price and wine store information.
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