As we have said many times, Viognier is a cruel mistress to begin with, particularly here in California. There is a magic place where there’s just the right touch of acidity supporting expressive, layered, highly spiced, fleshy fruit. But most of the time, the varietal fails to hit that mark, either falling lean and short on the fruit end or, more often, coming out a flabby mass of overripe, directionless fruit. In all fairness to the winemakers, hitting that narrow ‘sweet spot’ in the varietal profile is extremely difficult. But when it does, it is a special treat.
If you had told us that one of the most striking Viognier buys to come along from California in many years came from Paso Robles, we ‘d have had a hard time believing it. But the proof was in the glass. The San Simeon Viognier Stefano Vineyard 2018 delivered beautifully nuanced, classically varietal, even bright varietal fruit. The nose was subtly infused with that floral, honeysuckle, and peach character that we associate with top flight efforts of this varietal from the northern Rhone. The fruit is tender and round, but has the required ‘sizzle’ to deliver that special character that makes people fans of the varietal in the first place.
A good part of the game here is location. The Stefano Vineyard is located in the El Pomar District AVA of Paso Robles. Yeah, it’s warm here, but there is great maritime influence via the cool afternoon breezes from the Templeton Gap. The area’s Arbuckle-Positas soils are filled with multicolored rocks of all shapes and sizes and there are steep hillsides that naturally control vine vigor. During 2018, the weather was ideal with a long growing season that provided great “hang time” for the grapes. That allows the flavors to develop slowly and steadily while maintaining the tension in the juice to keep everything lifted. It all came together in 2018.
The juice is fermented in stainless steel tanks at 55˚ F for several weeks. The long, cold fermentation process preserves the delicate flavors and aromas of this variety. Immediately after the fermentation, 12% of the wine was transferred
to neutral French oak barrels in which the lees were stirred for several months to add texture and depth. The result is this personality-filled, unfettered, expressive, unpretentiously joyful white.
Since we decided we were going to promote this tasty example, we jumped into our usual research. We were a little surprised to find a 92 point score from Wine Spectator only because Wine Spectator typically doesn’t hand out scores like that on domestic Viogniers (Sauvignon Blancs also have a upper limit on scores but that’s another story). We set our Spectator ratings query at ‘Viogniers that got 92 point scores and cost less than $30 over the last three years’. There were three…this one, one from Alban, and a French Collines Rhodaniennes from the Northern Rhone.
When we narrowed the Spectator search to the last 12 months, the San Simeon Viognier was an ‘army of one’. How’s that for rarity? The words were inviting as well as Spectator clearly had the same impression we did. They wrote, “Powerful and elegant, featuring peach cobbler, ripe melon and dried apricot flavors that are rich and concentrated, set on a light and lithe frame, with bright and juicy acidity. Finishes with details of white flowers. Drink now.”
We’re all about that last part, ‘drink now’. This is bright enough to enjoy with the lighter fare of the season or entertain a broad audience as an aperitif all by itself. For our part, with a little help from the current times, we were able to work a bit with the $24 list price. Like we said, it’s hard enough to find a really engaging Viognier at all, let alone for less than $15!