When several families met at a Christchurch cafe recently to celebrate the successful negotiation of another birthday, the task of selecting the wine fell to me.

Piece of cake, you might think, but with four different pizza toppings, a fish dish, and steak being ordered, and one diner not keen on red wine, I had to reach for the thinking cap. The choice I made (which did involve a bit of point and hope) was The Innocent – an Australian viognier (vee-on-yay) from Shinas estate in Victoria, and it proved to be an inspired one. A big, boisterous, full-flavoured wine, packed with flavours of ripe peaches, apricots and honeysuckle, it was robust enough to handle all the different food combinations. It also had the added bonus of being thoroughly enjoyed by all drinkers present.

And now for a prediction. Pinot gris may well be the current “in” drink, but the next cab off the rank will be viognier. Mind you, I predicted an All Blacks victory over France. So what makes me think that? Because this is a . . . . . .        the rest of the article can be read here

Actually, Viognier is not really dead, it’s just gone undercover for a while. To clarify: few restaurants or retailers today need miscellaneous Viognier to help them fill a category so they tend not to buy it. On the other hand, there are still small quantities of delicious Viognier being produced that are highly sought after. As producers who made the wine simply because they sensed it was going to catch on yank it from their portfolios, and as the true aficionados rededicate to quality, we’re left with the paradox that some of the more interesting white wines nobody knows about today are actually made with Viognier. There just aren’t many. And most of these better bottles aren’t moderately priced because it’s hard to extract quality from the grape unless you harvest it at yields low enough to concentrate the intriguing aromatics that attracted admirers to it initially.

With this all in mind we set out to discover if there were any great Viognier values in the market today, wines that reflect the grape’s unrivalled potential for seductive perfume and oozing creamy textures. Many of the wines we tasted blind were one dimensional mediocrities, or worse, quirky eccentrics with weird burnt flavors, the products of vines planted in the all wrong places that are just waiting to be budded over to Pinot Gris or whatever other variety is projected to keep growing in popularity. But there were also some gems: real wines of character that deserve recognition and promotion. Four recommended wines out of a large group may not be encouraging but these were all wonderful and unique. Four very different wines, with the common elements of very intriguing aromas, lovely fruit and the avoidance of bitterness or excessive alcohol. The interesting thing about the variety is that even among the best producers there’s no consensus on how it should taste or even how it should be made. Whole cluster pressing, expensive as it is to conduct, seems to be the preferred technique of juice extraction, and many of the top wines are made without malolactic fermentation to preserve freshness. Wood has to be used judiciously but, as is the case with The Innocent, it can really enhance the grape’s varietal character. The key is that there’s no Viognier formula that will work everywhere. Each lot, and probably each harvest, has to be handled differently. So to those who handle it carefully, Viognier is still very much alive and worthy of promoting even to customers who are initially reluctant because of disappointing previous experiences with the grape. It just can’t be purchased indiscriminately. As usual, these are listed in ascending order of preference.

The Innocent Victoria, Australia, 2OO6. This is what great Viognier is all about: flesh and pleasure. There’s nothing innocent tasting here. The nose is absolutely classic: a seamless blend of orange blossom, apple and honey enticing enough in its perfume to make you dizzy. Smooth and lush, with a hint of sweetness and intense orange, almond-like, mango flavor threads, this wine swept the blind tasting going away. It’s amazing how quickly the Aussies have mastered so many of these interesting niche varietals. Produced at the hitherto unknown to me Shinas Estate Wines in the warm climate Mildura region of northwestern Victoria.

It is these modern styled wines, with substantial spice and super concentrated fruit, that have driven sales in all price points. Certainly the under $15 price point in wines from all wine regions, not just Barossa, is where consumers demand the more fruit forward, fruit bombs. However, as with the superstar list of “new style” wines cited by Michael Opdahl, and the incredible wines of Two Hands and Branson made by Michael Trelftree, I would say that it is the super concentration, balanced structure, and perfect marriage of French or American Oak producing the right mix of spices in the hands of a good winemaker, that defines this “modern” or “new” style Barossa wine. It is those characteristics that are driving sales through our customer base. It is not fruit bombs, but concentrated power and balance, that has the customer snapping up these wines in record numbers.

Certainly this the true in wines over $30, but all of my Aussie red customers would love to find these characteristics in wines under $30 as well. These wines exist, the latest incarnation of them being driven by winemaker Chris Ringland under the Henry’s Drive Pillar Box (under $10) and Dead Letter Office (under $30) labels. In fact, outside of the Barossa a great example of this is the Shinas Estate “The Guilty” Shiraz which I believe Ronnie Sanders Imports . Power, concentration, great balance, and under $20. It is this style of wine that will continue to be the future superstar sellers from all the Australian wine regions, not just the Barossa.