Lismore, Cape South Coast (South Africa) Viognier 2016

 I review very few bottlings of Viognier for the good reason that very few of them merit mention, much less praise.  The flashy, floral ones are often alcoholic and tiring to drink, with insufficient acidity, whereas the fresh ones often lack the aromatics that make Viognier worth considering in the first place.  Renditions from Condrieu (in France’s northern Rhône) that dodge these two problems are almost always painfully expensive, and though that makes sense because the region is tiny and horribly difficult to farm, I still can’t see shelling out $70 for them.  Which brings me to this wine — admittedly by a circuitous route — which I took because it is such a brilliant exception to the rule.  It shows floral topnotes that are lovely but also subtle (which is good, because overly perfumed wines almost never invite a second glass), as well as delicious peachy fruit enlivened with excellent acidity.  It seems that the secret to success in this case was two separate pickings…an early one for acidity, and a second to pick up the florals, which only emerge at full ripeness.  Probably tough to find, but even harder to resist after experiencing it.