Fifteen years ago, a Virginia Viognier won a blind taste-off against some well-known California rivals. It wasn’t exactly the “Judgment of Paris,” but for the Virginia wine industry, the effect was similar to California’s 1976 triumph over France.
Virginia’s winemakers reacted by planting Viognier with abandon. The increase has been especially fast over the last five years. So I figured it was time to take a serious look at the state of Virginia Viognier. Is it hype? Or is Viognier living up to the potential of that 1994 victory?
Good news – while picking Virginia Viognier at random can be risky, the best ones make the effort worthwhile. And the one that started it all with the 1993 vintage, Horton Vineyards, is still among the state’s best. Today, however, the top of the list is deliciously crowded.
Read my full report in today’s Washington Post.
Time for the Virginia-Texas viognier taste off. It's not like California makes any decent viognier...
Posted by: Jeff Siegel | April 01, 2009 at 11:55 AM
Dave - Just curious, but was Chrysalis included in your tasting? I don't believe I've had it since the '05 vintage, but it has always struck me as better than the Horton (which I certainly like), yet it didn't even make your top 8.
AC
Posted by: Allen Clark | April 02, 2009 at 11:14 AM
Dave,
My wife (Alleyne '80) says you shorted the Michael Shaps by comparison. We drank it recently at the Virginia Wine Expo in Richmond, and felt he had somehow coaxed a french-tasting Viognier out of that Albemarle soil.
Ben Mays
Posted by: Ben Mays | April 23, 2009 at 10:30 PM
I'm sorry I missed you at the Expo! But I don't know a three-star
("Extraordinary") rating is shorting that wonderful wine. Did you try the
Shaps Cabernet Franc 2007? Amazing.
Posted by: Dave McIntyre | April 24, 2009 at 09:37 AM