Campaigners of the "Anything But Chardonnay" school of thought are still searching for new varietals to challenge Chardonnay 's near hegemony in the world's Premiership White Wine league. Sauvignon Blanc has its many adherents, particularly in New Zealand, but your correspondent Lovat Stephen here declares his fondness for Viognier - so often regarded in the past as a variable and unfashionable...

Acacia Vineyard , Viognier “Estate Grown” 2004 ($28) Acacia Vineyard has been an old favorite of mine since the 1980’s producing some nice value Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the Napa side of the Carneros AVA. While their Pinots are my favorite, they do make some other limited production wines only available at the winery or to wine club members. One of them is this Viognier which is produced...

El Bloggo Rollo this morning popped up two very nice reviews: Dezel over at Virginia Wine Spot reviews our 2005 Canterbury Vineyards Viognier (and this may be the first time a rubber chicken spitting a cork has ever been caught...

Watch this Episode! 2004 Cold Heaven Viognier Deux Mondes Saints & Sinners 2004 Chateau Ste Michelle Ethos Chardonnay 2003 Croft Port Watch today as Gary tastes and reviews four wines that were requested by you the viewers. Also in todays episode Gary takes another look at the Clos Des Papes Chateauneuf Du Pape 2003 from yesterdays episode. See if Gary changes his mind or sticks...

I've fooled you - this isn't about recalcitrant yeast in a non-zero brix environment. Instead I wanted to comment on a post by Mike over at Winery Web Site Report titled Is Wine Stuck? Mike quotes another post on Seth...

We had a little winemakers dinner over at the Groveland Hotel last Friday night. Fermento was chained to the crushpad so Pimp Daddy presided over the event (that's him on the right, above.) A packed room included old friends and...

Based on several excellent comments received from our readers (and a few rantings from our staff), I have updated the Geek Sheet format for several of our most popular wines and I have created a guide to help explain the...

Last week we got a phone call from the folks who run the Sierra Railroad, which operates vintage trains year-round out of Oakdale, CA. They asked us if we wanted to be the featured winery on their Dinner Train on...

Last week, I wrote an item about Rhone varieties in the Pacific Northwest, but I'd like to focus a little more closely on Viognier, the white wine of France's Condrieu region (just south of Cote-Rotie) and a new darling in the Pacific Northwest...

Viognier. Hard to pronounce and hard to like. Yet it’s become a darling of much of the Cape ... to add a dollop of Viognier. This is the practise in the Rhone region of France, where they use ... tannins of the red. But by small percentage we are talking five or less. As the Viognier fad has ... . But there are some examples of the intelligent and astute use of Viognier. At Fairview, where...