2017 Purity Viognier ‘Vio/Vio’

Region: Sierra Foothills < California

Grapes: Viognier

Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Organic farming; light red clay, dusty soils over granite, lots of granite at 1800 feet elevation; tread by foot and pressed the following day. The juice was then held in a settling tank for 2 days before being transferred to 4 used French and American oak barrels. The ferment began in short order and took approximately 4 weeks; bottled unfined/unfiltered with no added SO2; 12% ABV

Winemaker: Noel Diaz

One more wine from the nicest, and one of the nattiest, Cali winemakers. We’ll let him describe the wine: “I threw it in the freezer one day for a quick chill, then decided to work out - 30-ish minutes later I was hot and thirsty and the Viognier sounded like a great idea. By then, it had started to freeze, there were these weird striations running down the inside of the bottle, like ice chains. I opened the bottle thinking the whole thing was going to seize up like a slushy, but it didn’t -- the wine was so tight and laser sharp, but dense at the same time. It was very refreshing, like drinking concentrated mint and cucumber. Later as the wine came to room temp, it began unfolding and lime and bergamot characteristics develop, then as I kept drinking it, over the course of maybe an hour and a half, with dinner, I couldn’t stop going back to the glass, to inhale it, and for another taste. Something in it just kept me so involved, then suddenly it occurred to me that what I was drinking was like a dry Chartreuse. I’ve run that thought by several friends while sharing other bottles and they all agreed with my assessment. It’s a beautiful wine. As with all my wines, it is not filtered, there is a very light settling at the bottom of the bottle, nothing heavy, just like a wispy lace.” Yes please!