California Viognier Recommendations

By special request, this post is about California Viognier (pronounced VEE-un-yay). A friend of mine in San Francisco is interested in trying more California Viogniers, but in choosing from restaurant wine lists and off the shelf at stores, she has experienced poor expressions of the varietal more often than the intriguing and solid attempts that many California winemakers do have to offer.

For those who don’t know, Viognier is a white varietal most commonly grown in the northern Rhone Valley of France. One Rhone appellation, Condrieu, is exclusively Viognier. Several New World regions are now experimenting with the varietal, California being one of the leaders. But because it’s not a tried and true varietal with known New World geographies producing exceptional output year-on-year (i.e what Cabernet Sauvignon is to Napa), there are plenty of hit and misses on the shelves of your local wine shops and supermarkets.

Viognier can be extremely floral (think honeysuckle or gardenia) and can include tropical fruit scents such as mango or pineapple. To oversimplify, I think of it as ‘Sauternes-lite’ but with enough acidity to pair well with most foods. I personally really enjoy Viognier and take most opportunities to try it. It’s my substitute Chardonnay for when I want a medium-bodied white that is less acidic than Sauvignon Blanc but without the oak and butter that California Chardonnay can’t seem to escape.

So now that you are intrigued, which ones to try? I’ve listed some recommendations below based on a combination of my own tasting experience as well as reputation of the wine producers for the varietal. These suggestions exclude the vintage, so of course each year will taste a bit different. Also, these Viogniers are mostly priced between $22-$30 USD with the exception of Cline, which is ‘good’ but not ‘great’.

California Viognier recommendations:
Alban (San Luis Obispo) ~$23
Arrowood (Sonoma) ~$30
Calera (Central Coast) ~$28
Cline (Sonoma) $12-$15
Fess Parker (Santa Barbara) $22/$30
Joseph Phelps (Napa) $?
Pipestone Vineyards (Paso Robles) ~ $25

Please post if you’ve tried any of these or have any other California Viognier recommendations to share!