THE annual Millbrook comparative viognier tasting held this month proved for the first time that in terms of quality, style, appeal and price, viognier is now a mainstream variety in Australia.
As recently as 1985, viognier, a white wine variety from the Rhone Valley in France, was down and out.
There were just 6ha left in a single planting in the world with a touch more scattered throughout the northern Rhone vineyards.
Then the rescue began.
Today there are more than 1300ha in Australia alone, which in 2007 (a tiny, drought-affected crop) produced about 700,000 cases.
Interestingly, amid a significant international replanting, Yalumba has emerged as the world’s biggest viognier producer with production of just under 200,000 cases
WA wines, as so often is the case, fared marvellously at the tasting with Capel Vale’s Cellar Reserve Release 2007 (recently reviewed as outstanding in these pages, 18.5pts and $25) scoring the second-highest points .
Millbrook’s premium Limited Release Viognier 2007 (18.1pts and $35) and the Millbrook Regional Selection 2007 (18pts and $22) were also in the top seven of the 15 very highly credentialed Australian and international wines.
The viogniers that the three West Australians were compared with included the French entrants from Chapoutier (18.3pts and $85), Villard (18.7pts and $90) and Yves Cuilleron (18pts and $105) – all from Condrieu and 2006.
Apart from the New Zealanders, the other Aussie entrants included a who’s who of the viognier club with the 2007 Clonakilla ($45), the 2007 Elgee Park ($35), the 2007 Petaluma ($37) and the established premium market leader, the 2007 Yalumba Virgilius ($45).
What this tasting indicated was that the watershed in Australia’s short history of viognier production has been reached.
For the first time, all of the Australian wines drank beautifully and were easily the equivalent in terms of price and crowd-pleasing abilities as their better-known peers among the riesling, sauvignon blanc and chardonnay varieties.
The Capel Vale entrant is a serious wine.
It has two gold medals, one of them in England, and it shows “musky with dried apricots flavours and it is long, viscous, fine-knit and dense and with brilliant length, finish, aftertaste and texture”.
For the beautifully appointed Millbrook winery and restaurant in Jarrahdale, just 45 minutes south of Perth, to place two wines among the top seven was an extraordinary achievement in this masked international line up.
The Millbrook Regional Viognier 2007 (18pts and $22), its most reasonably priced wine, also showed outstanding value.
It’s not an international superstar but at this price a very good wine that will go marvellously with food.
This wine and the Capel Vale were the tastings’ two best values.
The Millbrook Ltd Release 2007 Viognier (18.1pts and $35) is of the modern style.
It is long, clean, fresh and dry… and lingers and lingers.
It can justifiably rely on its refined textural and persistent fruit characters and lingering clean aftertaste.