Viognier - WikiHQ

thumb|Viognier grapes ripening on the vine in [[Amador county, California]]

Viognier () is a white wine grape variety. It is the only permitted grape for the French wine Condrieu in the Rhône Valley.

Outside of the Rhône, Viognier can be found in regions of North and South America as well as Australia, New Zealand, the Cape Winelands in South Africa, the south Moravia region in Czechia, Israel and in Austria at Weingut Roland Minkowitsch. In some wine regions, the variety is co-fermented with the red wine grape Syrah where it can contribute to the color and aroma of so called light red wine.

Like Chardonnay, Viognier has the potential to produce full-bodied wines with a lush, soft character. In contrast to Chardonnay, the Viognier varietal has more natural aromatics that include notes of peach, pears, violets and minerality. However, these aromatic notes can be easily destroyed by too much exposure to oxygen, which makes barrel fermentation a winemaking technique that requires a high level of skill on the part of any winemaker working with this variety.

The potential quality of Viognier is also highly dependent on viticultural practices and climate, with the grape requiring a long, warm growing season in order to fully ripen but not a climate that is so hot that the grape develops high levels of sugars and potential alcohol before its aromatic notes can develop. The grape is naturally a low-yielding variety, which can make it a less economically viable planting for some vineyards. One legend states that the Roman emperor Probus brought the vine to the region in 281 AD; another has the grape packaged with Syrah on a cargo ship navigating the Rhône river, en route to Beaujolais when it was captured, near the site of present-day Condrieu, by a local group of outlaws known as culs de piaux.

The origin of the name Viognier is also obscure. The most common namesake is the French city of Vienne, which was a major Roman outpost. Another legend has it drawing its name from the Roman pronunciation of the via Gehennae, meaning the "Road of the Valley of Hell". Probably this is an allusion to the difficulty of growing the grape. When fully ripe the grapes have a deep yellow color and produce wine with a strong perfume and high in alcohol .

Regional production

left|thumb|A [[sparkling wine|sparkling Viognier from Washington State]]

Viognier has been planted much more extensively around the world since the early 1990s. Both California and Australia now have significant amounts of land devoted to the Viognier grape. There are also notable planting increases in areas of moderate climate such as Virginia's Monticello AVA region.

The decline of Viognier in France from its historic peak has much to do with the disastrous predations of the phylloxera insects from North America in Europe in the mid- and late-19th century, followed by the abandonment of the vineyards due to the chaos of World War I. By 1965, only about of Viognier vines remained in France, and the variety was nearly extinct. Even as late as the mid-1980s, Viognier in France was endangered. In parallel to the growth of Viognier in the rest of the world, plantings in France have grown dramatically since then. The grape has been enjoying some success in South Africa, New Zealand, Greece and Japan.

France

thumb|right|upright|A Viognier Vin de Pays d'Oc from Languedoc

In France, Viognier is the single permitted grape variety in the Rhône appellations of Condrieu and Château Grillet, which are located on the west bank of the Rhône, about 40 km south of Lyon. In the rest of the Rhône wine region whites, the grape is often blended with Roussanne, Marsanne, Grenache blanc, and Rolle. In the Northern Rhône, the grape is sometimes blended with Chardonnay.

Vignerons in the rest of France often look to plant Viognier in areas rich in granite soil that have a heat retaining quality that the grape seems to thrive in. The majority of French Viogniers are now grown in the Languedoc and sold as Vin de Pays.

North America

left|thumb|upright|A Viognier-based white "Rhone-style blend" from Washington State

Since the late 1980s, plantings of Viognier in the United States and Canada have increased dramatically. California's Central Coast is the leading producer with over of the grape planted. Californian Viogniers are noticeably higher in alcohol compared to other wines made from the grape. It has received international attention growing in Virginia, and in 2011 was named Virginia's signature white grape.

The grape can also be found in Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Washington, Oregon, Michigan, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Missouri and Arizona, Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California as well as British Columbia and the Niagara and Lake Erie North Shore regions of Ontario.

Food pairing

The highly aromatic and fruit forward nature of the grape allows Viognier to pair well with spicy foods such as Thai cuisine.

References

External links

Viognier: California's Exotic, Rare White Wine
Viognier in Australia
Grapes of the Rhône Valley: Viognier from the Tablas Creek blog