Into the limelight
No longer only for blending, the Australian viognier grape has grown into itself.
The Rhone Valley white variety viognier is and will remain a niche variety, representing about 2 per cent of white plantings in Australia. But it remains an important variety, mainly because of its close relationship to our national red hero, shiraz.
The relationship is both genetic and vinous. In Wine Grapes (Penguin, 2012), Jancis Robinson says DNA analysis shows a parent-offspring relationship between viognier and mondeuse blanche, making viognier either a half-sibling or a grandparent of shiraz.
The connection comes because in its northern Rhone home, vignerons co-planted and co-fermented viognier with shiraz - notably, in the aromatic silky reds of Cote-Rotie.
But largely because of its susceptibility to fungal disease, the variety almost disappeared from France. Plantings had shrunk to just 14 hectares in the northern Rhone by the late 1960s.
It staged a remarkable comeback to 4395 hectares in France by 2009. By that time, viognier, with its viscous texture and distinctive apricot-like aroma and flavour, had spread around the world, including to Australia.
James Halliday reports that Baillieu Myer planted the first vines on his Mornington Peninsula vineyard in 1972, about the same time as the late Dr Bailey Carrodus planted some viognier with shiraz at Yarra Yering.
Yalumba brought cuttings from Montpellier, France, and planted 1.2 hectares in the Eden Valley in 1980. They claimed this as the first commercial viognier planting in Australia. The distinctive and lovely whites made by Louisa Rose stimulated interest in the variety.
Dr John Kirk planted the variety at Clonakilla, Murrumbateman, in 1986. In the next decade, his son Tim Kirk combined it with shiraz to create Australia's most influential take on the classic Cote-Rotie shiraz-viognier style.
Yalumba's success with white viognier and Clonakilla's with the red blend saw plantings take off early in the new century.
Viognier first showed up in Australian Bureau of Statistics figures in 2003 at 541 hectares, including non-bearing vines. This had more than doubled to 1401 hectares in 2008 (representing about 2 per cent of Australia's 72,000 hectares of white).
However, Winemakers Federation of Australia surveys indicate a total viognier crush of 254 tonnes in 1999, peaking at 13,300 tonnes a decade later, then declining in recent years. The decline probably relates to vintage conditions rather than any decline in plantings.
At 13,000 tonnes, Australia might produce a little under a million dozen bottles of viognier a year. But much of the viognier goes to blends with shiraz (and sometimes other red varieties) and with other whites, principally viognier's Rhone relatives, marsanne and roussanne.
Just what goes where is anybody's guess. But a search of "viognier" on the website of Australia's largest wine retailer, Dan Murphy's, brought up 73 wines - 48 shiraz-viognier blends; 19 straight viogniers; one dessert-style viognier; one rose (a blend with grenache); and four white blends.
If this is representative, then much of Australia's viognier goes to blends with shiraz - with one caveat, the blends usually contain only about 5 per cent viognier.
On its own, viognier's exotic apricot and ginger flavours and viscous palate perhaps deliver too much flavour for regular drinking. As with other assertive whites - gewurztraminer, for example - a little goes a long way with this particular drop.
But these can be delightful drinks and winemakers, notably Yalumba and Clonakilla, produce highly polished versions that retain varietal character without overwhelming the senses.
I review below five examples that recently came across the tasting bench, including three superb wines from Yalumba, true masters of the variety, with 29 hectares of viognier on hand.
Yalumba South Australia Organic Viognier 2012
$18.95, 88 points
Yalumba's entry-level viognier - pure and apricot-like, complemented by a smooth texture and fresh, dry finish.
Yalumba Eden Valley Viognier 2012
$24.95, 92 points
A more opulent expression of viognier, incorporating the creamy texture of barrel fermentation and maturation. The Eden Valley viogner is exceptional at its price.
Yalumba The Virgilius Eden Valley Viognier 2010
$49.95, 96 points
Yalumba's barrel-fermented flagship introduces an exotic ginger note to the varietal apricot character. This is a sumptuous but restrained, distinctive and delightful wine to savour slowly. Classy.
Mount Avoca Pyrenees Viognier 2010
$24, 84 points
When first opened, this revealed the distinctive "bacon rind" character of barrel fermentation, a character that overshadowed the fruit. Oaky flavours then cut through the palate, a flavour quite separate from the good fruit.
Quartz Hill Pyrenees Viognier 2011
$32, 92 points
Shane Mead's is another fine expression of viognier. While the oak influence is apparent, it sits well with the fruit, if not as completely integrated, as it is in Yalumba's wines. The spritely, slightly leaner palate is very appealing.