WineCompass: #WineChat Talking Viognier

Viognier - the grape of Condrieu. Or perhaps Languedoc. Definitely Virginia. Arguably Texas. Maybe California & Washington. Then there's Australia. Yes, this sensitive grape has found a home in many places, from its ascendency in Northern Rhone to its expansion into the New World. Despite this expansion, the grape variety is still relatively unknown to the general public? It was for me, until a few years ago. If you need some insight into Viognier, then check out these articles by MyVineSpot, Debra Meiburg MW & Jancis Robinson.

But don't delay, because on Wednesday February 8^th, we will be discussing Viognier when we host #winechat, the weekly Twitter conversation originated by Marie Payton (@mariepayton) at Life of Vines. And we would like you to participate. All it takes is popping a bottle of Viognier and sharing your comments on Twitter using the #winechat hash tag. Simple enough.

Dezel Quillen (@myvinespot) and I (@winecompass) will be joining several Virginia winemakers as we sample and discuss Viognier wines from several regions; but focusing specifically on the Commonwealth. Particularly since the Virginia Wine Board has designated Viognier as that state's Signature Grape. And one of these wines, The Breaux Vineyards Viognier was just selected by Oz Clarke as one of only three U.S. wines to be included in his 250 Best Wines 2012.

Over in Texas Wine Country, Russ Kane (@VintageTexas) and Denise Fraser (@DeniseFraser) will be hosting a similar tasting of Texas Viognier. He has posted a briefing for Texas wine bloggers and they will be sharing several wines, including the Lone Oak Winery 2010 Viognier. This wine just received a Double Gold in the SFO Chronicle wine competition.

For more information on the event check out the Facebook Event page. If you plan on planning a similar locality tasting - say another #vawine tasting or for North Carolina Viognier or even Central Coast Viognier - let us know so that we can update the event. And be sure to use the #winechat Twitter hash tag as well as the #vawine and #txwine tags when commenting on those wines.

Virginia