If you are a starter at this, I have found good Viognier can be had from Australia’s mass production wineries that will show the typical minerality, robust acidic profile but never too acidic, and these wines are not highly oaked. They are an easy step into the Viognier world. Viognier’s from Australia are an excellent value. Both Australia and New Zealand produces Viognier, as does South Africa, France, Croatia, Greece and South America. In North America its plantings are as diverse as Virginia, Texas, British Columbia and the Baja Peninsula. So its diversity in regions is phenomenal.

What can you expect from Viognier?
For me, the bouquet usually includes:

Stone fruits (typically apricot) honeysuckle, roses, flowers, light pineapple or mango, light citrus, tangerine. And oh yes, not really any lemon like a lot of other whites.

Other expert notes, include almond extract, toasted bread, fig, anise. Viognier can be flowery, yet still be a standup dinner wine. That’s the amazing part about this varietal, a nuanced bouquet, but also highly structured, somewhat big and plenty dry (because the vintner wants it that way).

The color usually looks like this, a medium or light-medium gold from punch downs and pour overs the wine will extract more stone fruit flavors typically and the complexity may improve.

A key aspect I have found with Viognier is that the wine is quite susceptible to oak and the tangential flavors a barrel will bring. Hopefully you find a lightly oaked Viognier as this is important in my experience. This is one of the reasons I recommend a quality Australian or more low cost Viognier that is highly rated, these will not be over oaked, have the proper acid and bouquet notes, and provide a gentle introduction. Some mass produced Viogniers to get started with that are available across the USA, are from Cline, McManis, and Yalumba (Australia’s largest producer). Any of those three will get you started properly.

A classic example of the grape if you are willing to spend a bit more, is how Tablas Creek makes their Viognier. It is classic, clean, yet very complex, not a lot of oak at all. Tablas Creek is essentially direct to consumer so you will have to use their website, linked above.

In the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, where I live, our AVA’s produce some amazing Viognier’s, as the terroir is well suited to the varietal. If you thinking about a heartier Viognier, probably more robust than coastal Viognier, than you have found the appellations that will deliver this experience. The Viognier’s of the Sierra Nevada are for wine geeks, highly sought after.

Some of the best producers that I have tasted (come back to for Viognier) in the Sierra Foothills are in no particular order:

Element 79 Vineyards

Casque Wines

Cedarville Vineyards

Miraflores Winery

Holly’s Hill Vineyards and Winery

Lava Cap Winery

In fact, Wine Enthusiast rates the Lava Cap and Cedarville Vineyard Viognier’s as Cellar Selections and both of these producers know Viognier extremely well. The Viognier at Lava Cap is done in a very Burgundian way.

If you have never had Viognier and you prefer a dry white wine with hints of apricot, stone fruits, flowers, (lighter) citrus and excellent minerality and for some a creamy mouth feel thanks to Malolactic fermentation. It’s time to get a bottle of Viognier, and chill out on a summer’s night! I drink a lot more Viognier than I do Chardonnay or anything Sauvignon Blanc or related. But like anything when done right Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc can be fantastic too. As will Riesling or Gewurztraminer.

The Sierra Foothills however is Viognier Country, just ask one of our local winemakers. Sometimes they tell you.

“My Viognier does better than all my other varieties” and that should stand for a lot, since the fruit is the start of a great wine.

The post Viognier happily hidden behind Chardonnay appeared first on Frank's El Dorado wine blog.

Roussanne is medium (to low) acid, with quite a few citrus notes, and many other intriguing notes as well. Intriguing might include some tangerine or tropical hints if the wine was picked younger. Generally, Roussanne is made into a larger, more oak infused wine here in the USA. Marsanne is complex perhaps waxy or oily on the palate, that full mouth feel, and rich with flavors of beeswax/honey, pineapple, pear and melon, some peach and perhaps smoke. The almond notes turn to caramel with age. It is a light in sugar, which yields less alcohol in the bottle, making Marsanne a great blending grape.

Below is how the clusters look, I pulled these images from Tablas Creek so they are American grown grapes. The cluster photos that I saw posted that were grown in France had slightly darker (reddish) hues for the Marsanne berries.

Why has Marsanne become increasingly popular in France? This stems partly from comments made by Bill Easton in his tasting notes about his Roussanne, it may be a difficult grape to work with (for some) during cultivation. I saw this posted several times, not just by Terre Rouge, but have heard other comments saying it is not too difficult in some areas. The varietal can suffer from oidium (a fungus), or wind damage and other problems, and once harvested the grape tends to oxidize quickly.

Roussanne


Marsanne

So where is the Marsanne? Well I found some for you. I got help from Chuck Mansfield of Goldbud Farms, a top vineyard manager here in El Dorado County. Two of his vineyards are producing Marsanne, one is Camino Alto, the other, one of my favorites, a vineyard called Fenaughty. The only winery producing just a Marsanne is Le Casque Wines out of Loomis, California. This is the closest pure Marsanne to my house, and I made quick time getting there. Yes you can definitely go to Tablas Creek down in Paso Robles and get Marsanne varietal bottles as well, but it is harder up here in Northern California.

Marsanne simply isn’t planted very broadly, a wine report of 2019 shows about 100-200 acres exist in all of California. That’s not a lot of wine. That compares to hundreds more acres in Australia, and thousands of acres in France, where it is most loved.

It was stated in some research I did that both Roussanne and Marsanne really took off first down around Santa Barbara County, from Rhone lifetime achievement award winner Bob Lindquist. Bob has a never ending love for Marsanne, and if you live down there give them a visit. The Rhone focused areas of the southern part of California, probably have more than we do up here in the northern regions, still today, thanks to Bob’s influence. It can take decades for a wine varietal to take hold, and certainly a champion winemaker and winery is needed. In 2010, Tablas Creek posted a blog about the improving Marsanne and how they were going to go bigger with it, and they delivered since that post, so things are improving for both Roussanne and Marsanne.

So my advice is try these wineries, for Northern California Roussanne with Marsanne.

– Donkey and Goat (Fenaughty Vineyard Marsanne + Roussanne)

– Le Casque Wines (Camino Alto Vineyard Marsanne)

– David Girard Winery (blended estate Roussanne and Marsanne)

– Skinner Winery (blended estate Roussanne and Marsanne)

–Starfield Vineyards (Estate Marsanne)


But what about all that Marsanne in France? This blog got me on a kick to just try Marsanne from France since there are some incredible ones from there.

An exquisite choice is M. Chapoutier Les Granits Blanc (100% St Joseph Marsanne). I wanted to try some of the very best. Marsanne is most popular in Northern Rhone, and the esteemed St. Joseph AVA and this winemaker are a top duo. Anything higher end from Chapoutier is going to be full of intensity, balance and complex (aromas and flavanoids) for your palate. For certain, I can recommend this first class winery from the Rhone area of France. I tasted there and it was the wine highlight of my trip to southern France in 2022

An alternate Marsanne from Chapoutier that is perhaps more easily found is Chante Alouette, and it is also a great choice for amazing French Marsanne, it is less fruity than the Les Granits Blanc, and highly complex.

The post Roussanne found, where is Marsanne? appeared first on Frank's El Dorado wine blog.