2006 La Paradou Vioginer

I snagged this a while back on sale for $6.99 – Viognier has been fairly good to us and I'm all for a cheap one.

A somewhat floral nose with some lemonade qualities.

Lemon-lime, a touch of sweetness, a solid punch of minerality, and well balanced all around. As the bottle opens some tropical fruit notes come through – pineapple mostly.

Honey and lemon rind.

Seven bucks, hell yes. It's very light bodied and would go well with any light or spicy food.

Wine: 7
Value: Outstanding - yes.

2006 Bear's Lair Viognier

This was four bucks at Trader's Joe and I bought it on a whim.

Tropical fruit on the nose – papaya and pineapple mostly.

Feels a bit viscous in the mouth, some spicy notes, and a bit of fruit – quite dry over all actually.

This is interesting as the finish is huge while the palate is somewhat muted....lots of spice and tropical fruit – papaya and maybe even some guava with lingering vanilla bean and at the very end some strong lime notes coming through. An insanely long finish for almost any wine, let alone one under five bones.

This is a tough bottles to complain about...dirt cheap and surprisingly complex. I like my Viognier with more melon on the flavor profile but hey – four bucks? I'm sold.

2005 Clay Station Viognier

A while back I picked this up for when I was in the mood for something different, I don't recall the price but it couldn't have been over $10. I don't know if I've ever purchased a bottle of Viognier before, but we've had it at tastings with no memorable results.

Lots of melon on the nose – honeydew mainly.

The palate is big on melon, lots of fruit, some floral – almost herbal tea – notes, a nice acidic zing, just the slightest touch of sweetness, and a small bite of alcohol. This may sound odd, but as the wine warms up, I get an almost fishy taste – and strangely, not in a bad way. Imagine taking a bite of salmon, taking a swig of wine, and swallowing it – wine and fish blending together nicely (and we're drinking this alone, so dinner is not interfering with my palate).

This has one of the longest finishes I've encountered in a white wine, long lasting notes of melon – mainly a muskmelon – not quite honeydew and not canteloupe, but somewhere in the family as well as some more of that herbal tea.

I'll be trying more Viognier in the near future, I think this is a varietal I can get behind.