The hot days of Texas summer are upon us. What better thing to do than get your outdoor chores done by noon, get showered up and then stay inside in “air-conned” comfort. Perhaps, the only thing better is to also get in a few tastings of some cool white wines. The tasting experience that follows exposure to our summertime weather makes you appreciate wines with the ability to quench; quench the heat of summer and also the heat of our spicy regional cuisines like Tex-Mex, Southwestern, Creole/Cajun and even Pan Asian.
This was the context for my recent tasting of three premium white table wines. All were fascinating and somewhat exotic blends that prompt the near-philosophical questions as to how the blends were developed and how their names were derived.
The focus of my attention was the newly released 2008 Viviana, the Yin/Yang counterpart of the premium Mediterranean red-blend, Viviano from Llano Estacado in Lubbock, Texas (www.llanowine.com). This wine was made by Llano Estacado’s winemaker Chris Hall and is a proprietary blend of the aromatic northern European Gewurztraminer conjoined with equally perfumed Mediterranean Muscat Canelli and Viognier. Riesling and Chardonnay play their part offering wine structure, mouth feel and body. In this case, no one varietal greatly dominates in percentage.
Viviana’s partners in this taste pairing were two highly rated premium white blends of equal creativity from California: Beringer (www.beringer.com) Knights Valley 2007 Alluvium Blanc by winemaker Laurie Hook, and the 2007 Conundrum (www.conundrum.com) by winemaker Jon Bolta and from the distinguished Wagner family of Caymus Vineyards. Alluvium starts with a conventional white Bordeaux blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Chardonnay and then adds a pinch of Viognier. Conundrum’s approach is also based on Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Semillon then follows it with less conventional additions of Muscat Canelli and Viognier. Recent vintages of both Conundrum and Alluvium Blanc wines have garnered ratings from Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate in the range of 89-92.
How will Llano Estacado’s new Viviana compare?
More evaluation, pairing and analysis at: http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=920
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