2009 Trentham Estate Viognier

I usually taste four brackets of seven wines at one sitting and always work on a particular theme. So we might taste 28 shiraz (as I will this afternoon) or 28 Western Australian sem sauv blancs. I'm not too keen on tasting 28 bubblies at the one time and so usually do one bracket of sparkling wines followed by 21 wines on another theme. So this week I did a bracket of 21 viogniers after the bubbles. That does give some indication that there is plenty of viognier on the market. A fair bit of it is pretty bland and non-descript, just decent fresh, clean white wine (mostly Pretty Good in Quaff parlance). Plenty of it is more than $20 a bottle. My favourites were a couple of viogniers from Millbrook in the Perth Hills and a couple from Clonakilla near Canberra and this budget-priced cracker from the Murray Darling near Mildura. I gave this a gold medal and marvelled at its beguiling aromatics of apricots, pineapple and mango essence, lush fruity texture with a lingering dry finish. Summing up, I thought it long, deep and delicious. Checking it out later, I found it had picked up gold at the Perth Show. That's value!

Rating: Bloody Good

Cost: $ 14

Winemaker: Anthony Murphy

Wide availability in all Australian states. www.trenthamestate.com.au

Reviewed: 4 December         2009