2009 Fess Parker Rodney's Vineyard Viognier (90 Points)

DATE CONSUMED

Saturday, November 12, 2011

VINTAGE

2009

WINERY/PRODUCER

Fess Parker

WINE NAME

N/A

TYPE OF WINE

White

COMPOSITION

100% Viognier

SUBNAME/NICKNAME

N/A

VINEYARD DESIGNATION

Rodney’s Vineyard

REGION/A.V.A.

Santa Barbara County

ALCOHOL CONTENT

14.5%

PRICE PAID

$27.20

WHERE/WHEN BOUGHT AND/OR HOW PROCURED

November 2010 from the winery’s wine club

BOUQUET

Viogniers can have very floral and delicate bouquets.  Perhaps we weren’t using the best white wine glasses for this wine because the bouquet was quite subdued.  There were indeed the slightest suggestions of white flowers and fruit (peaches and melon), along with rumors of spices like white pepper and savory herbs.  But overall the bouquet wasn’t very pronounced.  Hopefully the flavor profile will compensate for the lack of a “nose.”

TASTING NOTES

I’ll take a delicious wine over a beautiful bouquet any day!

Thankfully, the wine’s flavor profile MORE than made-up for its lack of a nose.  This is a delicious and VERY creamy white (this wine must have been barrel fermented).  The flavor profile includes an abundance of tropical and summer fruits (pineapple, apricot, white peach, and mango), along with a bit of spice (white pepper, which the bouquet foretold).  This wine has a rich, creamy, voluptuous, slightly waxy mouthfeel, probably mostly due to the (assumed) barrel fermentation.  Despite the high alcohol content (the grapes used were obviously pretty darn ripe!), this is a very well-balanced white.

Overall, we loved this wine.  It was very fruity, fantastically rich and creamy, with enough structure and acidity to uphold and support its flavor profile.  Sometimes a wine’s high alcohol content can overwhelm and intrude upon its (otherwise) favorable characteristics; such is not the case here.  As usual, job well done Blair (Fox, Fess Parker’s head winemaker).

PAIRING SUGGESTIONS

We served this wine with a Caesar salad topped with a crab fritter.  The wine paired better with the crab fritter than the salad, but that’s basically why I chose to serve this wine.

This wine would also go well with a rich, creamy, right-out-of-the-oven brie cheese, lobster bisque, or a crab and corn chowder.

AGING POTENTIAL

The label on the back of the bottle suggests drinking this wine over the next two to three years, so this wine should probably be consumed by the end of 2013.

SCORE

90 Points

Q.P.R. (QUALITY-TO-PRICE RATIO) (POOR, FAIR, GOOD, EXCELLENT)

GOOD

WINERY WEBSITE

http://www.fessparkerwines.com/