Get out of your hooch rut

Walnut City Wineworks 2006 Viognier
Columbia Valley
Retail price: About $15

Some foolish people resolve each January to drink a little less wine. Pure arglebargle. How about resolving to trying some new wines and get out of your wine rut? Break free of your go-to Chards and Cabs and try an uncommon varietal.

Enter Walnut City Wineworks’ Viognier. This 100% Viognier wine is produced in Columbia Valley. The Walnut City guys are best known for their fabulous Pinot Noirs but don’t let that make you shy away from this delicious wine.

The Skinny:
When you take your first sip of this pretty straw colored wine you will be hit gobsmacked with aromas of wildflowers, granny smith apples and peaches. So heady are these aromas, you will swear that you are about to drink a sweet wine, but not so. This is a complex tasting wine and much like When Harry Met

Sally, you will notice more and more details as you revisit it. You will certainly be imitating Meg Ryan’s “Yes! Yes!” after drinking this treat. There are sweet hints of pineapple, apricot and along with ginger and coconut. Absolutely no oak in this baby. I drank this straight from my wine storage unit, so it was about 55-58 degrees. I wouldn’t serve it any colder or you will miss the richness and variety of the flavors.

Viogniers can be a bit oily on the mouth – they are the bluefish of wines — but this baby is full, soft, velvety and has a tiny bit of crispness in the finish. The alcohol level is a comforting 14.63%. Perfect after a rather trying parenting day, but drink it only after you are done carpooling. Walnut City Wineworks makes their wines with sustainable farming methods. So you can feel confident that drinking this wine is actually helping Mother Earth.

Crib Notes:
– Just so you don’t sound like a philistine at the wine shop, Viognier is pronounced vee-ohn-YAY.  (To listen to a sexy Frenchman say it click here)
– Viognier is often blended with other white wines, like Chardonnay, to give those wines a softness they lack.
– Columbia Valley is the largest AVA (American Viticultural Area) in Washington state. It has a unique climate which produces wines which are fruit forward, yet they retain the balance known from European wines.
– Viogniers are great with spicy foods like Thai as the fruit forward and highly aromatic characteristics complement the heat of these foods. Perfect take-out food wine.