A lovely Viognier

d'Arenberg - The Last Ditch - Viognier - 2007

This Northern Rhone varietal grown in the cool climate of the Adelaide Hills was fermented in old oak, no mallolactic with only free-run juice making it to the bottled wine. It spent approximately 9 months in 5 to 20 year old French and American oak barrels although with no obvious oak influence. Served from a chilled bottle this wine instantly began to fill the room with its green earthy vegetative aroma. My glass looked like it had lime juice in it, the cordial stuff you buy and mix with water, slightly green with pale edges. Quite complex on the nose, herbal, vegetative like you stuck your head inside a green bush with hard packed soil and dry stones underneath it. A little apricot as if it had been smacked with one of those big round stones. First impressions were good. The thing I noted right away on the taste was macerated white fruit, like white currents soaked in melon juice and apricots but keeping the fruityness in check with the apricot stones getting ground into this mix. Very round and soft on the pallet with a little thickness, very little acidity. Quite a good finish showing hard mandarin peal, herbs and that bush again. At 13.5% alcohol and available for under £10 this wine is very easy to drink, I like it and will be adding another to my collection for a summers day. 90/100

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