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Blend: 100% Viognier Price: $20 Cases Produced: 130 In early 2006, we decided to experiment with convertimg half of our Viognier vines from a bi-lateral cordon (the "T" shaped vines you often see in vineyards) to cane pruning (technically called head trained - cane pruned). We did this in order to find out whether changing vine training would result in more uniform grape clusters and better vine growth habit. For our Viognier, it does! At harvest, the cane-pruned vines had more consistent cluster sizes (a big deal with Viognier for flavor), with better size and uniformity of vine shoots (which means a healthier vine and grapes next year). We fermented the cane-pruned and cordon lots separately for evaluation, and then blended them together before bottling. In January 2007 we converted the rest of our vineyard block of Viognier to cane pruning. Estate Vineyard Block: North facing Viognier block Price: $20 Cases Produced: 185 Tasting Note: this wine exudes Meyer lemon, melon, and honey flavors with refreshing crispness and a long, dry, minerally finish. Robert Parker called our 2006 Viognier "tasty". We agree. Our 2005 Viognier comes from very well-ripened grapes grown on a one acre north-facing slope on the southeast corner of our estate vineyard. Unfortunately, our crop in 2005 was very small, resulting in 1/3 less wine than in 2004 (sadly, we didn't even have enough Viognier to co-ferment with our 2005 Syrah). The 2005 Viognier is our ripest to date, but like all the wines we make from our estate grown grapes, this wine maintains balanced acidity and plenty of complexity. This vintage is the most viscous and textured we'd made to date, and we're very fond of it. Estate Vineyard Block: North facing Viognier block 14.4 % alcohol Price: $20 Cases Produced: 147 Tasting Note: Honey, pear, white peach, and a hint of crushed stone; very viscous, nice minerality and good acidity. Rich, complex and delicious! Is the secret out about Viognier here in El Dorado county? While this is our fifth vintage, many of our favorite local wineries are releasing their first wines made from viognier grown right here in Fair Play, and the wines taste terrific. Estate Vineyard Block: North facing Viognier block 14.3 % alcohol Price: $20 Cases Produced: 207 Tasting Note: Honeysuckle and white peach characteristics, a hint of crushed stones, nice minerality and good acidity. Complex and delicious! Viognier is such an exciting white wine, and it finds a wonderful expression here in our estate vineyard. It's always a challenge to decide when to pick Viognier, especially since we're looking for fully ripe flavors. It requires patience to let the grapes hang on the vine, turning from a greenish tinted color to a fully ripe, luscious, translucent yellow. That's the point at which the fruit expresses all the exotic character that makes Viognier unique. In 2003, we harvested our ripest Viognier to date. Estate Vineyard Block: North facing Viognier block 14.1 % alcohol Price: $20 Cases Produced: 147 Tasting Note: Honey, orange peel, pears, and apricots give a ripe impression to the aromas. The flavors follow suit, with subtle juiciness, smokiness and minerals, with a nice sense of richness and acidity that pulls all of the flavors together. It's definitely a complex white wine! Our 2001 Viognier sold out very quickly. Fortunately, the 2002 vintage was a cooperative wine in the cellar and is ready for release. The feedback we often receive from fans of our Viognier is, "We love it, what makes it taste so unique?" We believe it's due to our high elevation site which retains the grape's natural acidity, our granitic soil which gives the wine a sense of minerality, and our refusal to clobber the wine with new oak. Essentially, we make a very traditional Viognier whole cluster pressed, barrel fermented, and aged sur-lie in neutral French oak barrels. Estate Vineyard Block: North facing Viognier block 14.5% alcohol Price: $20 Cases Produced: 200 Tasting Note: We want the fruit and our special vineyard site to do the talking and does this wine talk! The nose is full of aromas of white peaches and limes, and the mouth has rich texture, a touch of minerality, and balanced acidity. It tastes delightful right now, but will continue to develop complexity with a little age. Drum roll please, now presenting our only white wine, Viognier. It's pronounced Vee-O-Nee-Yay -- just practice saying it a few times, even us wine geeks needed to practice before feeling safe enough to pronounce it in public. Viognier is one of the great white wine grapes of the Northern Rhone Valley of France, where it grows on decomposed granite hillsides, just like here at Cedarville. In 2001, we hand sorted the grapes (as we do with all our grapes), then placed them directly into our press as whole clusters, and moved the free run press juice to a tank to start fermentation with temperature control. Part way through fermentation, we transferred the wine/juice to older French oak barrels to complete fermentation. We kept the wine in the same barrels, stirring the lees regularly for 14 months before moving the wine to a stainless steel tank for bottling. Estate Vineyard Block: North facing Viognier block 14.5% alcohol Price: $20 Cases Produced: 120 Tasting Note: The 2001 Viognier has a wonderfully pure pear and honey character on the nose which continues in the mouth with a seductive richness, and a touch of crisp acidity ideal with matching with food. |
