Tasted recently the following two Viogniers:
1. Turley TheWhiteCoat SanLuisObispoCnty (15.0%) 2002: Med.yellow color; lovely fragrant/honeyed/floral/honeysuckle/peachy very perfumed light toasty/creamy/oak complex nose; soft big/rich/lush very honeyed/honeysuckle/floral bit spicy/nutmeg light toasty/oak light smokey/charred flavor; very long honeyed/honeysuckle/floral/peachy/Viognier vanilla/toasty/creamy/oak finish; a lovely rich/lush RhoneBlanc
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2. LaJota NapaVlly HowellMtn Viognier (14.5%) 1992: Med.dark burnished gold color; rather nutty/hazelnutty/oxidized/old Chard slight floral/honey nose; tart dried-out rather oxidized/sherry nutty some toasty/oak old Chard flavor; somewhat bitter oxidized/nutty finish; tired and old and over-the-hill.
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. EhrenJordan: Eheren tends to get tarred by the Turley Zin brush of alcoholic/over-oaked/over-the-the-top oafish wines, which was really more Helen Turley's style. I've been very impressed w/ what he's done at both Turley and, especially, Failla.
His first WhiteCoat was pretty oaky/woody, but the more recent ones have been more reigned in and balanced. This '02 was a pretty terrific example of his style.
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2. LaJota Viognier: Bill Smith's LaJota Viognier was one of the very first Viogniers to come out in Calif. He struggled mightly w/ this grape but just never seemed to conquer it and finally gave up and pulled the vines. Probably rightly so. His first ones were rather oaky and Chard like. Then he tried no-oak, neutral oak, slightly sweet, dessert... the whole gamut. But they never seemed to capture that perfumed fragrance that Viognier does best. Maybe HowellMtn and the earthiness it imparts to those wines is not a good place for Viognier?? Certainly, Bill knows how to make great wines.
This '92 was, I believe, his first Viognier. Never much to my liking when young, it has not, unlike some of us, withstood the ravages of time.
Tom