Well what a surprise. Last week the Gherardi 2004 Viognier received a Gold medal at the Mount Barker Qantas wine show. It was a great thrill and a follow up to last year when it won Silver. The judges comments were interesting when they said “The Viognier was a superb example of the style - hopefully signalling a new emerging style for the state“.

While Viognier is a relatively new variety, it shows great promise here on the banks of the Margaret River. The site faces north and receives all the sun and warmth for the variety to express its true varietal characters of honeysuckle and apricot.

The palate is full and creamy due to the extensive barrel work of lees stirring over 10 to 12 months. I think this variety is more intriguing than Chardonnay. Bold statement I know but I’ll stand by it!

Vineman

This entry was posted on Monday, October 23rd, 2006 at 8:13 am and is filed under Tasting Notes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.