2018 Kongsgaard Viognier

The 2018 Viognier is a wine of tremendous character and nuance. Elegant and stunning in its beauty, the 2018 has so much going on. Apricot, mint, jasmine and chamomile accents all grace this absolutely exquisite, enticing Viognier from the Kongsgaards.

While the Chardonnays go through two years in barrel, the Viognier is bottled after one year to preserve all that wonderful perfume and vibrancy it possesses. Some sad news about Kongsgaard’s Viognier vineyard: After many years of collecting Viognier clones and establishing this vineyard, the 2017 fires swept through here, destroying most of the vines. The vineyard has since been replanted using the surviving clonal material, but this 2018 wine was made just from the surviving vines. Therefore, there is only one barrel of Viognier this year, as opposed to the four barrels that they normally produce. Also worth noting is that from the 2017 vintage, this wine no longer contains any Roussanne and will not do so going forward. A little closed to begin, the 2018 Viognier soon opens out to fragrant notes of ripe Bosc pears, white peaches and Golden delicious apples with hints of baker’s yeast, dill seed, wet pebbles and lemon drops. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is wonderfully elegant, with a delicately chiseled character and a refreshing line, offering soft-spoken layers of stone fruit and minerals, finishing long and fragrant. You can never really tell with Viognier how it will age, but given this wine’s structure and savory/mineral character, I wouldn’t be surprised if it offers something even more rewarding in 3 to 4+ years.