#Viognier

Apr 29, 2021

WINE OF THE WEEK: Guigal Côtes du Rhône Blanc 2019, France

£11.50–£12, The Wine Society, Tesco Full-bodied, succulent, Viognier-based dry white from one of the big names in a region much better known for its red wines – and one that doesn't usually major on Viognier in its whites. But it's the 60% Viognier (supported by Roussanne and Marsanne) that leads the way with fleshiness and soft texture, blossomy aromas and lush peach, cream and patisserie flavours. There's a sprinkling of white-pepper spiciness and a squeeze of grapefruit, t

Aug 27, 2020

Yalumba Organic Viognier 2019, South Australia

£7.49 (on offer), Waitrose I had scheduled Yalumba Samuel's Collection Bush Vine Grenache 2018 this week, getting in ahead of International Grenache Day on September 18, but this luscious Viognier, which missed out a couple of months ago, is now on offer (down from £10), making it even better value – cracking value, in fact, and a great wine buy for the bank holiday. You can't go wrong with a Yalumba Viognier. It's been one of the Hill Smith family's specialities since the 19

Jan 10, 2019

WINE OF THE WEEK: Yalumba The Y Series Viognier 2017, South Australia

£5.49 mix-six sale price, Majestic Even at £8–£8.25 (Sainsbury's and Morrisons) this is great value, so at Majestic's mix-six sale price (until 27 January) it's an absolute bargain. I've just had a bottle of the 2014 that I'd forgotten about (bought in a 'buy 6 save 25% offer', probably in May 2016). I didn't expect it to have lasted – Viognier isn't long-lived – but it was stunning: bursting with ripe apricot and peach fruit, zippy grapefruity acidity, Viognier's oily richne

Jun 28, 2018

WINE OF THE WEEK: Haut les Mains 2017, Pays d'Oc, Languedoc, France

£6.49, Waitrose and waitrosecellar.com An aromatic dry white from the south of France with the freshness and lusciousness of a perfectly ripe, juicy peach. The components, in descending order, are Viognier, Chardonnay, Vermentino, Mauzac, Muscat and Roussanne, which sounds like a kitchen-sink blend but the wine is far too seamless to be a chance creation or an assembly of leftovers (random and leftovers aren’t producer Benoit Valérie Calvet’s style anyway). It’s unoaked and m

Oct 26, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Lismore The Age of Grace Viognier 2016, Cape South Coast, South Africa

£20, Oddbins and oddbins.com Dazzlingly good Viognier from a winemaking paradise in the foothills of spectacular mountains deep in the south of South Africa. Or, to put it another way, a winemaking paradise in the middle of nowhere, three hours’ drive from Cape Town. The Age of Grace Viognier, from vineyards in the cool, high-altitude Elgin region, has a touchstone floral perfume – a combination of jasmine and honeysuckle – and flavours of white peach and apricot wrapped arou

Sep 14, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Alpha Box & Dice Golden Mullet Fury Semillon Viognier 2014, McLaren Vale, Aust

£14.95–£16.99, N D John, Drinkmonger, Kwoff You don’t need to see the brassy yellow colour of this wine or its label to know that it’s no conventional dry white. Technically it’s a so-called natural wine (the grapes ferment with their skins, as in red wine making, instead of being pressed and the juice only fermenting), but if natural wine, aka orange wine, is a red rag to a bull, ignore the tag and continue. Please. And don’t read the back of the bottle if you think labels s

Apr 13, 2017

WINE OF THE WEEK: Emiliana Natura Viognier 2015, Valle Central, Chile

£8.75, Oddbins I love the heady blossom and peach aromas of this organic white and its peaches-and-cream flavour and soft citrus-zest freshness, but Viognier isn’t always one of my favourite grapes. It can be a bit like the nursery rhyme: when it’s good, it’s very, very good, and when it’s bad it’s horrid. In the wrong place it turns from aromatic beauty to flabby plodder almost overnight. What Viognier likes, and gets in the cooler parts of Chile’s Central Valley, is a good