This one’s for my pal Michelle in Menlo, CA – that’s vee-oh-knee-yay for your neighbour, Michelle.  Don’t worry, it gets easier to say the more you drink.

Until recently, there was not much Viognier grown outside of France.  In fact, by 1965 there was only 8ha of it being grown in Condrieu in the Northern Rhone region of France.  Now, it is popular because of its rarity and in 2011, it was actually named as the state grape of Virginia!

This version is full of medium plus citrus – lemon, yellow grapefruit and pomello – punctuated with spice. There was more tropical style fruit on the second day with pineapple and guava.

A lovely medium minus lemon at the core, this wine was a pleasure to drink. I can imagine it with chicken or even seafood or oysters just because of the strong lemon aromas and flavour characteristics. A solid WSET Good wine.  Enjoy now; not meant for aging.