At a recent wine tasting event in my home where guests brought a bottle to share, I tasted a white wine that my friend Megen brought – a Chenin Blanc and Viognier blend. The majority of the wines for the tasting were sweet whites and red wines so this white wine blend went mostly unnoticed. I was shocked! I couldn’t get over how much depth that this white whine had while still being incredibly smooth. Despite my encouragement for others to try the wine, the party ended and the wine was still 3/4 full (oh darn, I guess I’ll just have to help polish that one off tomorrow)!
The next day, my friend Tonya, who I have a very similar wine palate with, stopped by and I immediately poured her a glass of this wine and said “you have to try this”. She too was shocked and loved the wine – which is saying something because she’s not a big white wine drinker! It was now time for me to analyze the particular varietals in this wine to figure out what made it so great! I’ve had Chenin Blanc on multiple occasions but tried it again after this wine. I won’t go into too much detail about Chenin Blanc since it is a varietal that will be highlighted at the end of January. But for now, it is time to try the Viognier!
It was a nice cool Wednesday afternoon when I invited Tonya over to analyze the Viognier that we were so excited to try. We had already had a glass of red wine so to tell you that we transitioned from red to this white wine should say something for the strength of a Viognier – it held its own!
To start, the look of the Viognier is a very light golden color and when swirled in the glass, it’s viscosity is evident. The smell of this wine in particular was very citrus-based, prominent with pineapple and grapefruit. The taste, however, did not have any citrus notes. It’s amazingly smooth and has a distinct peach flavor (imagine the flavor of peach without the sweetness of peach). This wine fully qualifies as a “Winter White” in my book. The fullness in the body of this wine makes it eligible for pairing with strongly spiced foods or with a fresh salad with blue cheese and warm chicken. I think this may be my new favorite white wine.
This wine was purchased at The Wine Gallery and Gourmet in Colorado Springs for $10 as part of their 6 bottles for $60 deal. Check them out!
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