About this WINE
Viognier
A white grape variety originating in the Northern Rhône and which in the last ten years has been increasingly planted in the Southern Rhône and the Languedoc.
It is a poor-yielding grape that is notoriously fickle to grow, being susceptible to a whole gamut of pests and diseases. Crucially it must be picked at optimum ripeness - if harvested too early and under-ripe the resulting wine can be thin, dilute and unbalanced, while if picked too late then the wine will lack the grape's distinctive peach and honeysuckle aroma. It is most successfully grown in the tiny appellations of Château-Grillet and Condrieu where it thrives on the distinctive arzelle granite-rich soils. It is also grown in Côte Rôtie where it lends aromatic richness to the wines when blended with Syrah.
Viognier has been on the charge in the Southern Rhône and the Languedoc throughout the 1990s and is now a key component of many white Côtes du Rhône. In Languedoc and Rousillon it is increasingly being bottled unblended and with notable success with richly fragrant wines redolent of overripe apricots and peaches and selling at a fraction of the price of their Northern Rhône cousins.
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Description
High up in the hills of the Var region of Provence, Domaine de Triennes was founded in 1990 by Burgundian eminences grises Jacques Seysses of Domaine Dujac and Aubert de Villaine of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti together their perhaps slightly less well-known Parisian friend Michel Macaux. The name comes from the Triennia, Roman festivities that took place every three years; events not untouched by a bacchanalian spirit one may assume.
The old-vine Viognier is proof, should proof be needed, that this somewhat temperamental variety can travel a little further south than its natural homestead in the Northern Rhône. The key is to maintain freshness and acidity, without in any way jeopardising to the naturally exuberant viscosity of the varietal. This is achieved in this instance and with great success by stainless steel fermentation, with temperature control to preserve natural aromatics. The wine has an attractive nose of apricot, gingerbread and honeysuckle and a generous rich mid-palate, redolent of peaches and cream, which puts on in mind of the lazy mild Spring afternoons that are surely only round the corner after our protracted winter.
Simon Field MW
Southern France Buyer
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