When it's hot, I tend to like wines that are a bit more fruity and at times even a bit sweet. No, not those horrible fortified wines of various types, but instead wines that have a nice fruitiness to them, usually balanced nicely by acidity. Often these wines have somewhat higher alcohol levels than other white wines, though this isn't necessarily the case when the wine is well made.

Wines like these are common in many parts of the world including some of the great winemaking regions, but really have not caught on much in the US. In part, this is because they are less common, more difficult to produce and frequently more expensive. The grapes need to be picked very close to peak ripeness, and the winemaker plays a dangerous game of matching sugar and alcohol levels to create the perfect balance of sweetness and crispness because it's really obvious when these wines are out of balance. In addition, the sweeter and fruitier nature of these wines can make them a tougher match for many foods.

Nonetheless, I like them.

This evening I picked up a few bottles of Viognier (pronouned Vee-Oh-Nyay), which is one of the white varietals of France's Rhone region and also grown in California, primarily in the central coast region.

Sadly, the Rhone varietals as a whole have not gotten too much attention in the US, which is too bad because they are a very good fit for the California climate. Syrah, which is the most common red grape, is mostly known by it's Australian name -- Shiraz -- and mostly in the form of inexpensive Australian product. Superb syrah/shiraz is produced in both France and Australia, but far less commonly in this country. It's too bad. Grenache is one of the primary grapes used in cheap jug and box wines and has a bad rep even though it can be an ingredient in very good wines if grown and used well. Mourvedre is largely unknown here and produced mostly be a few specialty wineries. often in blends with Syrah.

The whites are even less well known. Viognier is the most planted one in the US, but even so the quantities are small. And as my experiences this evening suggest, getting good ones can be challenging.

At its best, Viognier has wonderful apricot and melon flavors along with a little bit of sweetness. At its worst, it's bland and overly alcoholic.

The first bottle of the three I picked up this evening was badly corked and any flavor it may have had was ruined by the rotten cork. Sadly, this is a problem I've found with many cheaper wines that insist on using low-grade cork or manufactured cork. Despite my reluctance to appreciate them when they frist came out, I'm becoming a fan of other types of closures, plork and even screw tops, for wines that aren't going to be aged.

The second was a bottle of Smoking Loon 2005 Vigonier, which is labeled "California" with no futher designation. This is usually a fairly good producer of oddball wines, but the 2005 season was unusually wet and unpredictable, and that shows in the quality of the wine which is alcoholic and not particularly flavorful, with some toastiness that suggests to me that the winemaker may have tried to overcompensate for the lean fruit by oaking the wine for too long.

The third, a Fess Parker 2005 Viognier from Santa Barbara County was the best of the bunch, but even it was not as good as other vinitages I've had. It has a good amount of flavor, but less of the honeydew sweetness that this varietal at its best can produce. If anything, the flavor has a bit of a slightly under-ripe honeydew aftertaste to it. Allowing the bottle to warm slightly improved this but never really generated the honeydew apricot and pear flavors I love.

All-in-all, not a bad bit of experimentation, though I probably would have done better looking for these kinds of wines at a dedicated wine shop rather than at my local supermarket. I've got one more to taste -- this one a 2006 Chenin Blanc/Viognier blend that I think should be interesting. All indications are that the more recent vintage should be better that the 2005s due to the more predictable weather. These wines are often quite good when young.

-btc