Venerable viognierJane MacQuitty
The wine world is full of myths and one of them is that the seductive, perfumed, peach, apricot and hawthorn blossom-scented viognier grape could not be grown outside the steep, granite slopes of the northern Rhône valley. Now it’s everywhere. From an endangered species count in 1968 of just 14 hectares left in France, divided between Condrieu, Château Grillet and Côte Rôtie, viognier vine plantings have boomed. Today, this übermodish grape is planted throughout the Rhône. In Condrieu alone there are now almost 120 hectares of viognier vines with 75 different growers. Previously, there were just a handful of vignerons who could be bothered with this rare, low-yielding, erratic-setting, mildew-prone variety that needs sunny summers to reveal its scented best.
Viognier is even more fashionable in Languedoc, with nearly 2,000 hectares planted here. Classy vin de pays d’Oc viognier and chardonnay-viognier blends are deservedly popular with British drinkers, revealing some of this grape’s distinctive perfumed allure at a cheap price. The viognier grape’s other handy attribute is to take a twirl in the fermentation tank with shiraz, creating a brighter, aromatically enhanced red. Around 10 per cent viognier is usually all it takes, and now Australian and other New World producers have followed Côte Rôtie’s lead with some splendid results. Straight New World viogniers, especially from California and Australia, are often just too darned oaky and oily, with an over-extracted finish. To be fair, viognier needs to be fully ripe before it reveals its perfume, but it’s easy for winemakers inside and outside France to overdo it. Curiously, Chilean wine producers – and, to a lesser extent, the Argentinians – have managed to break the New World mould and make inexpensive, restrained, balanced yet aromatic viogniers.
Drink viognier young to catch all its flavours – ignore purists’ declarations that it must be drunk solo when at least seven years old. So scoop up the vibrant, spiced peach 2007 La Baume Viognier (Waitrose, £5.99) from the Midi. Or try the rich citrus and peach fruit of Chile’s 2007 Cono Sur Viognier (Majestic and Waitrose, £6.99). Ten bottles of this pair are a much better buy than one of the fabled, quirky, smoky but alas still very varnishy Château Grillet, even though it hails from one of the smallest appellations in France (just under four hectares). Half the price, and still the real thing, is Chapoutier’s rich, exotic 2006 Condrieu Invitaire (Majestic, £25). Bargains by comparison are the elegant, zesty, apricoty fruit of 2007 Viognier, a Vin de Pays des Coteaux de l’Ardèche (Yapp Brothers, £7.75) and the gorgeous 2006 Le Pied de Samson Viognier (Yapp Brothers, £16.95), a Vin de Pays des Collines Rhodaniennes blessed with so much intense, blossomy fruit, I defy any of you to dislike it.