2013 Tahbilk Rousanne Marsanne Viognier

I loved the previous Tahbilk labels and branding - very old school; channelling both 1970s and 1870s (fitting, given the age of some vines at their winery, which are even older).
This new wine sits in between their great value, entry level  Shiraz, Cabernet and Marsanne and their flagship wines, and is a new blend from the winery. A solid addition to the range.

A nose and palate of fresh pear, apricot and green and red apple. Rounded fruit with orange peel and low key acidity. Nice minerality throughout, with, some toasty oak and pleasant phenolics on the savoury finish.

On days 2 and 3 it lost a bit of weight in terms of textural mouthfeel, and freshened/lightened up.

RRP: $25-$28

ABV: 12.8%
Rating:  89 pts

Website: http://www.tahbilk.com.au/

2011 Tarrawarra Viognier, Rousanne, Marsanne

Provided all of the components to this type of blend are made with care, I enjoy a good Australian white Rhone blend. 2011 was a difficult vintage in most regions, including the Yarra Valley, so I was interested to see how this presented on the tasting bench.

The wine has a pretty, slightly sweet bouquet of orange blossom, freshly cut apricots and some citrus fruits. In the mouth the textural qualities of the wine dominate: rounded yet not flabby, the wine spreads across the palate without flooding it. There is a pleasant grassiness on the mid palate, with a savoury, spicy and slightly bitter finish that includes orange peel, some sugared ginger and finely grated fresh ginger.

There are some interesting textural and acidity interplay with this wine that might please or put people off, while the finish is subtly spicy and pleasantly bitter which may also polarize. Regardless, I found this a cleansing, interesting wine from a very difficult vintage.

Rating: 88pts

ABV: 12.5%

RRP: $30

Website:  www.tarrawarra.com.au
 

2011 Clonakilla, Viognier Nouveau

I purchased this as the final bottle in a half dozen, and have always been keen to try it, and as a light, drink now, ‘don’t think too hard’ rendition of Viognier, the Clonakilla Viognier Nouveau really delivers.
The wine has an understated spicy ginger, citrus fruit nose (almost tropical). There is juicy fruit texture on the palate with restrained, freshly sliced apricot and peach flavours, finishing relatively crisp, clean and refreshing, avoiding oiliness. This wine struck me as something of a chameleon wine, suitable for most foods in the Riesling-Semillon-Chablis zone. A seriously drinkable, refreshing, easy going Canberran suitable for Christmas stand-down.

Rating: 90+ (for versatility and its refreshing take on Australian Viognier)

RRP: $20-30

ABV: 14%
Website: http://www.clonakilla.com.au/

2009 Yalumba "The Virgilius" Viognier (Eden Valley)

Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris/Grigio, and Viognier are three white wines I rarely seek out. A standard offering from these three varieties doesn’t do much for me. However, I would also say that the best examples of any variety can be both impressive and enjoyable, regardless of your natural preferences and biases. And so it is with this wine. In fact it’s close to being the best Viognier I have had.

It’s a tidy $50 a bottle, but there is plenty of love and care that has gone into it. From Yalumba -

Hand-picked grapes were whole-bunch pressed directly to barrels, and the juice handled with passive oxidation. The wine was fermented in mostly mature French oak barriques by a population of naturally occurring and differing species of yeast indigenous to the environment of the vineyard. In these wild ferments each yeast played a small and subtly different part in the development of the wine, creating layers of richness, complexity, fine textures and flavours. After fermentation the wine was aged on lees with regular batonage for 11 months to further heighten the palate weight and increase the complexity and flavour generosity. At blending only the finest barrels were chosen for the final wine.

The wine lives up to the spiel. It’s got a bit of varietal apricot generosity, but keeps this often blousy aspect with Viognier in check. There’s a beautiful ginger spice that pervades throughout, while in the background notes of melon, musk, florals, and dried herbs add further appeal. Fine acidity and a bit of phenolic grip provide lovely texture. Once again that spice is there on a long, refined finish.

It should age nicely over the next 5 years, but is good to go now with a bit of air. A cut above.

Rated:


RRP: $50
ABV: 13.5%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: http://www.yalumba.com/


Red

2011 Lark Hill Viognier (Dark Horse Vineyard)

Lark Hill have been making some impressive wines recently, and their 2011 Viognier is a surprisingly good one. It is a fresh, juicy, yet textural wine (with a slatey minerality). It has the characteristic Viognier apricot and ginger spice, though the apricot flavours are not overpowering or of a dried apricot nature, and the ginger is fresh, flowing through from the nose to the back palate. The wine  finishes with lingering and pleasant smokey ginger spice. Lark Hill have managed to avoid the phenolic harshness, high alcohol and flabbyness I find in a fair few Australian Viogniers (ABV is only 12.5%).  This would match niecly with a wide variety of foods (in my case, some five spice roast duck in an asian style orange sauce).   

Rating: 91 pts
ABV: 12.5%
RRP: $25
Website: http://www.larkhillwine.com.au/