Viognier – a little or a lot

Ten years back there was one tiny vineyard of viognier planted in the Cape; now there are over 500 hectares of the stuff – as is becoming increasingly obvious from the stream of varietal viognier wines and the number of blends it is finding its aromatic way into. Not only white wines – but reds too, primarily but not exclusively shiraz-based ones, following on the tradition of Côte Rôtie in France’s northern Rhône valley. (Click here for the Grape article on shiraz-viognier blends in the Cape.)

The fashionability of viognier in South Africa is paralleled (though largely preceded), incidentally, by the international situation. A few decades back, viognier was scarcely known outside its heartland in the northern Rhône. mostly the little Condrieu appellation. Now, as Jancis Robinson noted in a recent article, viognier ‘truly is the flavour, and I use the word advisedly, of the year’.

In our latest new release tasting of 25 or so wines, we noticed half a dozen with some admixture of viognier...

Idiom Shiraz-Mourvèdre-Viognier 2004 15
The Idiom range is a new venture from Alberto Bottega, the Italian emigré who also owns Whalehaven. The Da Capo Vineyards, where the grapes come from, are on the Hottentot Hollands Mountains, near Sir Lowry’s Pass. The maiden Rhône-style blend has some 70% shiraz, the rest made up by mourvèdre and a dollop of viognier. The latter is nicely judged: it supports the attractive perfume of the wine without revealing itself. A big, powerful wine this, rather spoilt by an alcoholic buzz, but still vibrant and fresh. A little thick and woody, perhaps, and most of us could enjoy the velvety texture and found some good shiraz fruit – but AL was a sharp dissenter, finding not enough fruit and too much sweet coconutty oak (from its maturation in a mix of new and older French and American oak barrels). — TJ
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Spier Vintage Selection
• Sauvignon Blanc-Chardonnay-Viognier 2004 R65 15
• Shiraz-Mourvèdre-Viognier 2003 R75 14.5
A brand from the Winecorp stable, Spier is possibly better known for its wine tourism centre just outside Stellenbosch town, a situation that wine-making team of Frans Smit, Eleonor Hoogendijk and Kobie Viljoen are striving to change. This recently-launched-in-South Africa brand ‘extension’ – Spier Vintage Selection – is pitched between its top end Spier Private Collection and generic Spier offerings. To use marketing-speak, the range’s unique selling point is its ‘different’ blends – hence the viognier part of these two wines. The white blend (50/30/20) is bright and enchanting in the glass, with a forthcoming stone fruit and cream bouquet. However, it lacks richness on the palate and puzzlingly, despite being made from three very different varieties, lacks complexity. (In fact, sauvignon and chardonnay have never made a particularly convincing marriage anywhere.) The oak, from four months in French barrels, is integrated. AL finds the wine rather phenolic and oxidised on the palate.
    The Rhône-style blend has mourvèdre – another fashionable variety – coming in as support for shiraz. IM enjoyed the grippy tannins and bright fruit she discerned, but Grape’s other tasters were less enthusiastic, finding it too extracted and softly soupy. Dominated by shiraz (66%) with 31% mourèvdre and just a splash viognier, it is savoury and salty on the palate with leather, perfume and red fruit on the nose, somewhat complex and certainly interesting. The oak, a mix of French and American barrels, has been deftly handled. – CvZ
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Solms
• Amalie 2005 R77 16.5
• Lekkerwijn 2004 R56 16
• Hiervandaan 2004 R98 16.5
The Solms-Delta estate is a most interesting and – in a number of ways – most welcome new venture. The Franschhoek farm dates back 320 years, although there haven’t been grapes planted since the phylloxera devastation of the late nineteenth century – under the new Solms ownership the vineyards have been re-established with Rhône varieties.
  There is, in fact, a real and living sense of history deeply entwined in the renaissance of the property, with a full awareness that that history goes back beyond the colonial grip on the land. Not only is a museum being established to focus on this history, but the current owners are, through substantial profit sharing and other means, ‘attempting in a small way to address the persistent economic inequality and other bitter legacies of South Africa’s past’. (It looks as though the museum will be interesting and valuable, and we will write more about it on the Grape website; there is now some moderately approachable coverage on the Solms-Delta website.
    Fortunately it is not only the project that is interesting and welcome, so too are the maiden-release wines, made by Hilko Hegewisch, an old name in Cape wine. From widely sourced bought-in grapes at this stage, they’re a most auspicious beginning, all three wines evidence a genuine identity and personality, with no forcing into a preconceived ‘style’.
    The Amalie white blend is an interesting and welcomingly different-tasting wine. Although it is heavily dominated by viognier (81%), the grenache blanc remainder works some magic, toning down the usually very obvious perfume into a subtle apricot, with attractive boiled sweets overtones. The six months it spent in new oak barrels no doubt plays a role here (though there’s no obvious oakiness), as it does in building the roundness and richness of the wine in the mouth, where a pleasing earthiness also comes into play. It’s dry, with a lovely fresh acidity helping to make it a good food wine.
    Lekkerwijn is a rosé from mourvèdre, viognier and the more common, black, version of grenache. Unlike most local rosés, this is not a by-product of making a red wine – and this shows in its absolute convincingness. If there’s a better, more sophisticated and pleasing rosé locally, I don’t know of it. It’s packed solid with elegant, dry fruit; clean, fresh and immensely drinkable (though IM felt she’d have like more complexity). The wooding – nine months in older oak – is a model lesson in good practice: it works to help hold all the components together without adding any overt flavour.
    The red Hiervandaan only just squeaks into our viognier theme with 3% – also supporting the majority shiraz are mourvèdre, grenache and carignan. A beautifully structured, natural-seeming wine – ready for drinking but will certainly keep a good few years – it is not exactly elegant (and thus typically south-Rhônish), but light of foot and light of heart. Ripe, subtle tannins and purity of fruit are the hallmarks here.
    Added to all these virtues, the packaging is attractive and unusual, with the Delft-blue drawings confirming the Dutch feel of the 'Wijn de Caab' tag. But one cavil – especially in the light of what seem like unusually democratic forces at work at  – do we, in South Africa in 2005, really need to have not just one but two feudal family crests on the labels, one of which announces an ‘appointment’ to some German princeling relative of the family? — TJ
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Scoring

Grape’s interpretation of the
20-point rating scale

0-10: Faulty or just unpleasant

10.5-11.5: Dull, uninteresting but sound

12-13.5: Pleasant enough, simple quaffer

14-15.5: Good and enjoyable, but no real excitement

16-16.5 Very good, offering something special

17-17.5 Fine and beautiful world-class wine, among the best in SA

18-20  Truly excellent, some even among the world’s finest

!!! indicates especially good value

Prices
Prices given are approximate retail in South Africa, except where indicated as ex-farm by (f)

Tasters

TJ – Tim James
AL – Angela Lloyd
IM – Ingrid Motteux
CvZ – Cathy van Zyl

We would welcome adding your opinions of these wines