This is another first for me; I've never had Viognier, just Viognier, before, though I have enjoyed white wine blends containing Viognier. The Westerly Vineyards Vigonier is a light straw color in the glass. The aroma is sweet and musky, very like honeysuckle or certain musk melons, or even orange-flavored mead, on the nose. Just from the aroma, this is clearly not Chardonnay, it's not Sauvignon Blanc, it's very different.

Westerly Vineyards Vigonier is a wine that's surprisingly full-bodied, especially for a white wine. The taste is extraordinary; at first, sweet, and musky, like musk melon, or honeydew, but then it changes and become spicy, even a little sharp. I can see why people talk about things like pepper and cardamon with Viognier, but there's a tropical fruit, even a buttery, quality to it as well. This particular Viognier is 14.3% ABV, but it honestly is so very smooth and mellow that I was expecting it to be around 12% ABV.

According to Westerly Vineyards, this 100% Viognier wine was made from McGinley Vineyard grapes. The grape clusters were cold-pressed, and then aged in oak-neutral barrels for six months with periodic batonage, or stirring the lees in the bottom of the barrel to enhance the flavor and aroma of the wine.

Viognier is an interesting wine, one that I'm definitely going to have to explore, not only in general, but in terms of specifics. This bottle of Westerly Vineyards Vigonier 2008 was quite lovely. The winery produced 510 cases of this particular Westerly Vineyards 2008 Viognier, with a suggested retail of $25.00. We picked up up at the local BGO $3.99. I'll be going back for more; I want to try this with lime-chili prawns.