2008-03-11

Condrieu it ain't....

... is pretty much my observation on every Viognier I taste. Fashion dictates that everybody wants to make a Viognier, and some of them are really rather tasty, but none of them has the astonishing silky mouth-filling lightness of good Condrieu. Quite a lot of them achieve a decent peachiness, and one or two have a decadent, almost cloying perfume - I'm thinking now of the Doña Paula Naked Pulp - but that magical texture never quite materialises...

So, opportunities for grumbling aside, what does the Fleur du Cap Unfiltered Viognier 2006 have to offer? Well, there's an interesting mélange of browned apples and oak smoke on the nose, without an excess of fruit. The palate is tangy, zingy, zesty, dry and full-bodied, very enjoyable to drink, excellent in fact...

But...