WTN: Ironstone Viognier 2005

California.

Spicy peach and pine resin on the nose, later revealing some grapefruit.

Peach and tart lemon, peppery, some pine resin, grapefruit rind toward the end. Very tangy.

As the wine warmed and breathed, the grapefruit took over and the wine became quite simple and one-dimensional, with the very tart grapefruit pretty much obliterating anything else. Could have benefited from a bit more complexity or, at the very least, a bit less of the grapefruit attack.

Think I will avoid this one Bruce. Time to open another Yalumba "Y" series Viognier!!

I was introduced to this wine several years ago. The winemaker was by my store with wines to taste, one of which was a Syrah. I then asked him if they did any Viognier. He said they made about 400 cases but that it all went to the UK market. His marketing people said that was the only place it would sell. I asked him to send me a sample and see if we could get some for the Oregon market. It was 2003 and was absolutely one of the best for under $10 that I have ever found. It was 14.5 alcohol and had very nice aromatics and more peaches. The 2004 was almost as good. When we got in the 2005 I noticed that the alcohol was now 12.5%. I think that for Viognier it needs to be at least 14% to get the aromatics. When I tasted it I found absolutely no varietal character whatsoever. At that point I quit selling it.