The most extraordinary thing about the story of Viognier is how very nearly and how very recently it almost shrivelled to extinction. When I wrote Vines, Grapes & Wines in 1985 (for publication in 1986) I was able to identify records of just 32 ha of it planted in the entire world. As I wrote then, 'quantitatively, the Viognier vine hardly deserves a mention in this book', yet I was audacious enough to include it among vine varieties I labelled 'major' (as opposed to the 'classic' ones, the ones we would today call 'international').
In the mid 1980s almost all the officially planted Viognier in the world was planted in the Rhône Valley. Most of it in the Condrieu appellation on the right bank of the northern Rhône. But the terraces there are so steep and difficult to maintain that these 23 ha were all that remained of an officially allowed total for the appellation of 200 ha
Rise of Viognier
By 2011, however, Condrieu plantings had risen to 160 ha and the variety was known and often grown virtually throughout the world of wine – chiefly because of its extraordinary combination of perfume and body.
Viognier could truly be said to be the hedonist's white grape variety, even if it is often the vintner's headache – and the drinker's headache too, come to that – for it has to be left on the vine for a very long time before its characteristic heady aroma fully develops.
This has variously been described as reminiscent of apricots, May blossom, honeysuckle, ripe peaches, musk. It is certainly distinctive, and is in the fruit and flower spectrum rather than the mineral or animal one.
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Viognier now found all over the world
The variety is now encountered as a particularly fragrant and usually full-bodied varietal white wine all over the world. In Italy it was pioneered by Ascheri in Piemonte and d'Alessandro of Manzano in Tuscany. He, like others, has demonstrated how well Viognier blends with Chardonnay – especially Chardonnay that is reasonably high in acidity. In Austria the leading Viognier exponent is Graf Hardegg of the Weinviertel, while Henri Cruchon leads the field in Switzerland. All over Europe growers are experimenting with this distinctive and intriguing variety.
In South Africa the first grower to be canny enough to clear Viognier through the strict quarantine enforced there was Charles Back of Fairview.
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