Cline 2007 California Viognier

A few days ago I had the 2006 vintage. This is very similar.

Clear, extremely pale straw color.

Smell of grapefruit, maybe peach, clean, maybe a bit of wet flint.

Rich mouthfeel, grapefruit flavor, both in terms of fruit and of acid. Unlike last year's vintage, not a bit petillant.

Tart citrus-like acid makes this a nice foil for Thanksgiving leftovers.

The next day unchanged.

I think it's a tossup whether the 2006 is better or whether this is. They're both quite nice, but let me try a few more Viogniers I have bottles of before I declare which ones I'd buy more of.

Casa Castillo 2005 Jumilla Monastrell

Medium purple color, clear with red glints.

Plum / prune / black cherry smell, some leather. Some oak, but quite restrained, perhaps not primarily new barrels.

Roast beef and plum flavors, some black cherry and some oak. Tannic, with warm alcohol in the finish.

The next day it's much the same.

I'd buy this again for $10.99. This is a very nice wine and a hard-to-beat value.

Cline 2006 California Viognier

If you'd asked me a year ago to identify my favorite white wine I'd have unhesitatingly said "well-aged Riesling." While my esteem for that wine hasn't lessened, the recent ubiquitous nature of Viognier reminds me of how much I like that grape.

I told myself to drink this lightly-chilled rather than at the temperature of my refrigerator. This was a good choice.

Water-clear, pale straw color.

Grapefruit smell, peaches.

Rich honeyed mouth-feel, apricot, grapefruit, peach fruit flavors. It was petillant on opening, but that was short-lived. Ripe sweet fruit balanced with a bit of cleansing bitterness, call it citrus rind.

The next day it's unchanged as far as I can tell.

Seems a bit atypical, the grapefruit smell reminds me of Sauvignon Blanc a little bit more than it does of Viognier. (But not the offensive cat-pee smell that Sauv Blanc sometimes exhibits.)

I would buy again for $11.29 but I've got an $11.99 2007, so no hurry on repeating this.

Tait 2006 Barossa Valley 'The Ball Buster'

This is 78% Shiraz, 12% Caberrnet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot. Even with a majority of a Rhone grape, the wine is in the style of Bordeaux, or an impression of one.

Opaque purple-red appearance.

Overwhelming smell of new oak, it's difficult to smell much else.

Taste of black cherry, plum, currant, with no shortage of spicy oak.

The next day the smell and taste are little changed.

This isn't a bad wine, if a bit oak-heavy, but a nice wine for $18.29 is easy to find and I see no need to repeat this one.

California's Jewel Collection 2005 California Viognier

The 1988 New Frank Schoonmaker Encyclopedia of Wine says, of Viognier, "There are fewer than 100 acres of this variety". The 2009 Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book instead calls the grape "ultra-fashionable". It's been an interesting 20 years, to watch a once rarely-seen grape become commonplace.

Golden straw color.

Floral / peach / citrus smells

Rich as honey in the mouth, tastes of apricot, peach, hints of grapefruit, substantial alcohol warmth in the finish.

The next day taste and smell are as they were yesterday. It occurs to me that refrigerator temperature is colder than this should be served. I do have a soft ice-bucket that may be more appropriate for this.

I'd buy this again for $14.99. As far as I can tell, though, there are no more recent California's Jewel wines after court disputes between the owners and grape growers.

Paringa 2004 South Australia Sparkling Shiraz

It's red. It's fizzy. It's impossible not to think about Cold Duck.

Unlike a recently-posted pair of wines which overcome the sometimes flabby nature of Shiraz/Syrah by blending in a bit of Viognier, this balances the perhaps too-ripe fruit with dilute carbonic acid.

Near opaque purple color, that it raises a Welch's-Grape-Juice-purple head is fun and exciting.

Plum and black cherry smell with a bit of oak.

Ripe plum and black cherry flavors, fruit sweetness, oak is there but only if you hunt for it.

There's never a moment's doubt, in every mouthful this is a red wine.
Even the richest Blanc de Noirs was never this luscious.

Don't tell my doctor, but tonight I open and finish a bottle, so no 'next day' comments. Sparkling wine, I admit, is my weakness. A $20.00 limit for blog posts was thus a curious choice.

I would will cheerfully buy this again for $10.29. This is fun and the hell with looking for flaws. This would put a new cast on my near-weekly sessions of enjoying WRC reruns with a bottle of fizz.

Thanksgiving wine

What to accompany a traditional Thanksgiving feast? A nice QmP Riesling works, as does an Alsatian Riesling, but I'm out of both, likewise a nice cru Beaujolais. Pinot Gris sounds reasonable. I think a Viognier would be good or a medium-weight Pinot Noir, but right now I'm remembering a 375ml bottle of Champagne downstairs that ought to be very nice; a non-vintage Brut Premier from Louis Roederer.

Innocent Bystander 2005 South Eastern Australia Shiraz - Viognier

Nearly opaque ruby color, not a bit cloudy like the Zonte's Footstep 2004 Langhorne Creek Shiraz Viognier.

Plum smell, do I smell (and taste) apricot or do I expect to because it says 3% Viognier on the label? Some oak, in good balance with the fruit.

Spicy oak in the plum flavor, a bit raisiny, fruit nicely matched with tart acid.

The next day maybe the smell of oak is a bit more forward, tangy fruit still the primary flavor.

$14.99 seems like a very reasonable price for this, I can see paying that again.

Zonte's Footstep 2004 Langhorne Creek Shiraz Viognier

1988's "The New Frank Schoonmaker Encyclopedia of Wine" by Alexis Bespaloff says, of Viognier

a rare but celebrated grape of the northern Rhone Valley ... There are fewer than 100 acres of this variety...

While much of this was vinified into the white wines of Condrieu and Chateau-Grillet, it was relatively common to blend a small amount of Viognier with Syrah for a flowery aroma and for lively acid, both of which Syrah can lack.

Viognier has since had quite a revival, in France and the US, and particularly in Australia. There are now rather more than 100 acres grown. This wine is 93% Shiraz, 7% Viognier.

On unscrewing the cap, I found a crust of sediment had formed just beneath that cap. This probably contributed to the slightly cloudy appearance of this dark ruby wine. It suggests, I think, too-cold storage with the bottle upside down.

Black cherry and plum scents, and blackberry.

Blackberry and stone fruit flavors with black pepper. Oak is noticeable in the background, but in no way does it dominate the ripe fruit but it compliments it well.

The next day it remains ripe, juicy, and delicious. I'm a fan.

The crust I saw worries me a little, mostly about how the bottle was kept, and I'd be slow to buy this again for $18.29, but I know the 2006 is available, and I may well try that.

Rodney Strong 2005 Russian River Valley Pinor Noir

Light-to-medium ruby color.

On opening, oak dominates the smell, with black cherry and berries.

Cherry/berry flavors under overriding oak.

The next day the fruit smell seems a little more assertive, but oak still is the primary flavor.

I'd refrain from buying again for $19.99, though I'm curious whether or not time would improve it. My experience, by no means conclusive, is that something this unbalanced between oak and fruit is always going to be unbalanced.

Caporale 1986 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

An odd orphan I found downstairs this week. I'd have guessed there were no more bottles I didn't know about down there.

I admit during the years in the basement this bottle lost its price label, so I'm only guessing it was under $20. I suspect it doesn't matter, really: I see no evidence in Google that Caporale wine is currently available outside the winery.

Because the wine has developed a significant amount of sediment and because the cork crumbled some while being extracted, I put this through a paper coffee filter.

Clear dark ruby with the sediment filtered out.

Unpleasant over-ripe fruit salad smell which doesn't seem to blow off after half an hour. Under the stink there are smells of currant, black cherry, plum.

Ripe stone fruit flavor, the fruit-salad-gone-bad is here, too.

The next day the smell and taste haven't improved. This isn't quite like anything I've encountered before in wine. I hesitated before posting it, but I think this has been like this since the day it was bottled, and is not some product of spoilage. My experience with too-old wine is that it just loses flavor, not that it develops weird bad ones.

If I found another bottle I'd open it, to see if it is this distasteful.