{"id":427,"date":"2019-08-27T00:46:19","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T00:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backroadswineries.com\/blog\/?p=427"},"modified":"2019-08-27T00:46:19","modified_gmt":"2019-08-27T00:46:19","slug":"love-affair-with-viognier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backroadswineries.com\/blog\/2019\/08\/27\/love-affair-with-viognier\/","title":{"rendered":"A Love Affair with Viognier"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Susan Evans – winemaker, Shadow Run Vineyards & Winery<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My assessment of any winemaker\u2019s talent is always enhanced\ntenfold when I discover that she or he can create a beautiful white wine.  Creating a luscious, nuanced white is a thin\ncord balancing act built on both science and art.  The natural delicacy of a white wine quickly\nreveals flaws that cannot be smoothed away by time in oak, or softened with\nage.  Guiding a white wine to maturity requires\na refined approach:  a constant vigilance\nto retain the delicate flavors and the fruit and floral nose that are the\nhallmark of a great white wine.  And when\nthe flavors are layered and complex, with each sip revealing yet another hue,\nthen I am in white wine heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have the great fortune to work primarily with Viognier,\nalso known as the winemaker\u2019s grape for its elusive qualities.  A great Viognier should reveal layers of\nstone fruit including apricot, white and yellow peach, perhaps lychee, or honey.  The characteristic Viognier nose is floral, with\nscents of honeysuckle and white flowers. \nMy favorite wine writer, Karen MacNeil describes Viognier as \u201cChardonnay\u2019s\nravishing exotic sister.\u201d  So true.  But when Viognier grapes are allowed to ripen\ntoo long on the vine, the result can be a wine that is oily, with high alcohol\nand insufficient acid to balance the rich flavors.  Harvest too early and the resulting wine\nshows more citrus and acid, resembling a crisp Sauvignon Blanc from\nCalifornia\u2019s Monterey County (a lovely wine, but not the flavors we want in a\nViognier).  That precise harvest moment\nseems to arrive and depart very quickly, and missing that perfect balance of\nflavors and acid can leave the winemaker with less than ideal grapes and dreaming\nabout the next vintage, another chance for the dream wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viognier\u2019s fame originated in the tiny appellations of Condrieu\nand Chateau Grillet located in the Northern Rhone region of France.  Combined, these two appellations cover about 280\nacres.  Today, California is the largest\nproducer of Viognier, with approximately 3,000 acres planted.  Compare that however to the acreage of\nChardonnay planted in California (approximately 93,000 acres) and it is quickly\napparent that Viognier remains a rare find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Violinist<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Frankly, I work harder and spend more capital on our white\nwines, specifically our Viognier.   I think\nabout them more, I worry about them more, I love them more.  Our Viognier is fermented in huge French oak\npuncheons in a cold environment and then aged on the \u201clees\u201d that is, on the\nspent yeast cells.  While the wine is\naging in barrel, we stir the lees three times a\nweek to enhance the body and mouthfeel of the wine, hoping to again capture\nthat creamy mid palate that has become a hallmark of Shadow Run whites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viognier is my passion.\u00a0 And the search for the best expression of this beautiful wine never ends.\u00a0 Each year I have the chance to try yet again to create that wine that will satisfy my dreams of the perfect Viognier<\/a>.\u00a0 Happily I will never make the perfect<\/em> white, so I am driven to try again and again.
Cheers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Susan Evans – winemaker, Shadow Run Vineyards & Winery My assessment of any winemaker\u2019s talent is always enhanced tenfold when I discover that she or he can create a beautiful white wine.  Creating a luscious, nuanced white is a thin cord balancing act built on both science and art.  The natural delicacy of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[21,80,108,125,128],"class_list":["post-427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wine","tag-back-roads-wineries-of-paso-robles","tag-paso-robles-wine","tag-shadow-run-vineyards-winery","tag-viognier","tag-wine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backroadswineries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backroadswineries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backroadswineries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backroadswineries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backroadswineries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.backroadswineries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backroadswineries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backroadswineries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backroadswineries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backroadswineries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}