Raised by Wolves 2011 Viognier, Wahluke Slope, Elevage Wine Company
2013-03-01: It had been well over a week since I visited FedEx, and I knew there was a delivery late last week I couldn't pick up as I had already left for the Dark & Delicious event. FedEx gets grumpy holding shipments for over a week, so I called them to see what was up and they were overflowing with nine deliveries, but he said there was also what appeared to be a single bottle, and I wasn't expecting a single. Interesting. Upon request, he actually opened the box to see what it was, and was kind enough to put it in their fridge. I ended up stopping by noonish, to at least sign for the deliveries even though I couldn't pick them up with the car just too full with the business move, and pick up that single.
These folks are great, so we pulled the cork, poured three tastes, and stepped outside for a sip. Light straw in color and not all that chilled, even in a breeze outside this had a plenty of floral notes. No extensive notes here, but noted a bit of citrus and all three of us agreed quite enjoyable.
Moving the business I worked for was winding down for the day and another exhausted group pondered some sips. Again most all, three male one female, agreed this had a wonderful full nose, drank very easily solo and would likely compliment varied foods. The lone dissent came from a beer drinking grad student who will drink red wine but not whites and especially those that hint at all of sweetness.
One commented:
Excellent, full nose. Good legs and great body in the mouth. Light fruit of green pear. Good acid, but still so smooth. A very enjoyable wine that would be appropriate to cheese and white, flaky fish.
2013-03-03: Evening two SWIMBO and I poured some after an earlier meal.
My thoughts remain the same, nice floral nose, a bit of citrus, good full mouth and surprisingly not much alcohol showing. Something seems to suggest a bit of RS, not sure if it's fruit, alcohol or RS driven. Very smooth and enjoyable with an evolving rather lengthy finish. SWMBO disagreed on the hint of sweetness, but found this to her liking as well.
Fast forward to…
2013-03-15: two full weeks later finishing off the Argon filled 750 ml bottle with ~200 ml remaining…
These notes taken as the wine warmed over a period of one hour from 64F to 70F
Color; still clear, pale, yellow straw.
Aroma; definitely aromatic, now picking up apricot and some tropical fruits in addition to the initial citrus.
Taste; I'd call this off-dry, possibly tilting towards sweet, but not I think from RS, perhaps the 14.7% AbV, but there is little if any alcohol bite.
Flavorful with lively acidity, especially for a Viognier, and medium body but with a nice light viscous body that lightly coats the tongue, but not at all cloying and with a lingering ~10 second finish.
The aroma actually seemed to fade as this warmed, which surprised me, or I just became fatigued.
The flavors did evolve, the citrus diminishing to be replaced by something I don't yet have the vocabulary to name, but remained quite pleasant.
Seems like a classic well made Viognier but from my reading one with a higher acidity than normally expected. I would have no difficulty enjoying over time as a cocktail or with a meal, as I have now done a few times. It remains SWMBO approved, not always an easy task for anything but a medium sweet or sweeter.
For me it will be interesting to see some numbers on this, I really hope we get pH and TA to confirm the higher perceived acidity. And RS to confirm sugar or alcohol for the sweetness.
A huge +1 for Argon as a preservative. My notes, while brief from two weeks ago are fully consistent with those from this evening.
A +1 for RBW; and as I got notice of my rehire today, I'll be in on this one.
Fred, you should expand your horizons, I'll trade you a bottle of this for a bottle of RBW Cab!
Yup, I'm in
Speed to First Woot: 0m 14.446s
First Sucker: rjquillin
Last Wooter to Woot: rjquillin
Last Purchase: a few seconds ago
