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Viognier

White

About Viognier

Viognier (French pronunciation: [viɔɲje]) is a white wine grape. It is the only permitted grape for the French wine Condrieu in the Rhone valley.

History of Viognier in Australia

In Australia, Yalumba is the country's largest producer of the grape making both a white wine varietal and making extensive use of the grape in its Shiraz blends. Yalumba grows the grape in the loam and clay soil of the Eden Valley. Other areas with Viognier plantings include Nangkita, Rutherglen, Murray River, McLaren Vale, Geelong, Nagambie Lakes, Canberra, Mornington Peninsula, Barossa Valley, Adelaide Hills, Geographe and Tenterfield.

Characteristics of Viognier

Viognier wines are well-known for their floral aromas, due to terpenes, which are also found in Muscat and Riesling wines. There are also many other powerful flower and fruit aromas which can be perceived in these wines depending on where they were grown, the weather conditions and how old the vines were. Although some of these wines, especially those from old vines and the late-harvest wines, are suitable for aging, most are intended to be consumed young. Viogniers more than three years old tend to lose many of the floral aromas that make this wine unique. Aging these wines will often yield a very crisp drinking wine which is almost completely flat in the nose. The color and the aroma of the wine suggest a sweet wine but Viognier wines are predominantly dry, although sweet late-harvest dessert wines have been made.

It is a grape with low acidity; it is sometimes used to soften wines made predominantly with the red Syrah grape, or here in Australia, to tame a punchy Shiraz. In addition to its softening qualities the grape also adds a stabilizing agent and enhanced perfume to the red wine.