Our blind tasting game—without the tasting! Can you identify a wine just by reading its tasting note? We post real Wine Spectator reviews. You use clues such as color, aromas, flavors and structure to figure out the grape, age and origin. Good luck!
Tasting Note: A luscious white centered by a bitter-edged mineral core, which brings focus and tension to creamy apricot, lychee and peach flavors. A ripe, full-bodied version, with dried green herbs and white tea splaying out on the persistent finish.
And the answer is...
Variety
Our mystery wine is luscious and full-bodied with creamy stone fruit, herb and mineral notes. Let’s figure out what it is!
We can immediately eliminate Verdejo, which tends to make light-bodied and citrusy wines with vegetal accents.
A Sauvignon Blanc could show our wine’s herb and mineral accents; however, our wine’s richness and creamy fruit notes would be unusual for lighter-bodied Sauvignon Blanc. Let’s move on!
Chenin Blanc is made in a range of styles, including rich and fuller-bodied versions. But these whites tend toward apple and pear notes, unlike our lychee- and peach-packed wine. Chenin Blanc has to go too.
While a fuller-bodied Riesling might display our wine’s peach and mineral notes, it would be unusual for a Riesling to show lychee and tea flavors. Maybe another grape works better?
Viogniers are celebrated for their stone fruit flavors and herbal, minerally accents. They also tend to be richer, fuller-bodied whites with distinctively creamy characteristics. This sounds closest to the mark.
This wine is a Viognier.
Country or Region of Origin
Viognier grows around the world and is most successful in warmer climates. So it comes as no surprise that it would be difficult to find it in Germany. There is a bit of Viognier in New Zealand, but the grape isn’t nearly as prominent there as, say, Sauvignon Blanc. And there are some plantings in Spain, but Spanish winemakers tend to blend their Viognier with other white grapes. California has had success with Viognier (and other Rhône grapes) over the past several decades; these whites are well-known for their tropical fruit flavors and toasty and buttery accents imparted by oak barrel aging. Viogniers made in France (where the variety originates) typically display creamier attributes with stone fruit flavors and herbal, minerally notes. This is more on target.
This Viognier is from France.
Appellation
Knowing that our Viognier is from France, we can eliminate Germany’s Bodensee, California’s Russian River Valley, Spain’s Valdeorras and New Zealand’s Waiheke Island. This leaves us with two French appellations: Condrieu and Pouilly-Fuissé.
Located in the southern reaches of Burgundy, within the Mâconnais subregion, Pouilly-Fuissé is best-known for its rich and complex white wines made from Chardonnay. Meanwhile in the warmer Northern Rhône Valley, Condrieu is a bastion for prized Viognier wines (and Viognier is the only grape variety permitted in the appellation). The choice is clear.
This Viognier is from Condrieu.
Age
Our Viognier’s fruit notes are still fresh and the wine is not showing any signs of age (such as dried fruit flavors). Condrieus tend to see at least six months of barrel aging before release, with some versions spending more than a year in barrel. Let’s explore the most recently released vintages to figure out our wine’s age.
In 2020, the Northern Rhône saw one of its earliest harvests on record, and that year’s Condrieus tend to be rich with orchard and tropical fruit flavors and nutty accents. Considerable heat presented Northern Rhône winemakers with a challenge in 2021, and that vintage’s whites are lush with peach, melon, floral and saline notes. 2022 was a drier vintage with sparser rain than in past years, and its Condrieus tend be somewhat lush with creamy stone fruit, herb and mineral notes. 2022’s wines sound the most like our own.
This Viognier is from the 2022 vintage, making it two years old.
Wine
This is the E. Guigal Condrieu 2022, which scored 93 points in November 2023. It retails for $80, and 7,500 cases were made. For more on Northern Rhône wines, read senior editor Kristen Bieler’s tasting report "The Rhône Faces the Heat" in the Feb. 28, 2023, issue of Wine Spectator.
—Collin Dreizen, assistant managing editor
