Wedding Oak Winery Viognier 2016 Wine Review

When thinking about great Texas white wines, Viognier comes to mind right away. Whether it’s the challenges of growing the grape in some areas or the award-winning wines from Texas producers, it’s obvious that Viognier provides a great risk/reward for Texas wine growers and producers. If the grape survives early spring frosts or late spring and summer hail storms, it promises to make some great wine. Interestingly enough, Texas wine producers use this grape to make several different styles of wine with differing characteristics. Some use whole cluster press methods to make full body and structured wines that pair well with hearty foods, while others make light and crisp wines perfect for hot summer sipping. There is at least one winery making an “orange wine” with the grape. With Texas Viognier, you can find a wine for most preferences.

If you know me or have read this far, you know I love Viognier. I’ll taste it whenever it’s offered in Texas tasting rooms. So, I was happy to receive a bottle from Wedding Oak Winery for review. Wedding Oak is located in San Saba, TX and has an additional tasting room at Wildseed Farms near Fredericksburg.

Now for the wine. Our oldest and his wife like Viognier a lot, and we decided to let them enjoy the bottle with us if they shared their first impressions. We started out sipping the wine and recording our thoughts. Some of the impressions of the nose were “citrus, floral, and pear.” As for the taste, we agreed that it was “dry and crisp” with a fresh start, apparent acidity, light body, and structure, ending with a nice citrus finish. In the glass, there is no sediment, the color is light straw, and the clarity is bright and translucent. We made all these observations before reading the winemaker notes.

The wine is described by the tasting notes pretty close to our thoughts. “White flower, tropical fruit, and stone fruit aromas.” “Honeyed melon, apple, nectarine, and pear flavors with a crisp Meyer lemon lingering finish.” We were surprised how close our impressions were to their descriptions.

The Wedding Oak 2016 Viognier was produced from their estate-grown grapes near the winery in San Saba. The grapes are grown on a high hill in the northern Hill Country. They are hand harvested early in the morning and whole berry pressed.

Specifications:

• Wedding Oak Winery Viognier 2016
• Style: Dry white wine
• Appellation: Texas Hill Country, High Valley Vineyard estate
• Grape Varieties: 89% Viognier, 11% Marsanne, < 1% Roussanne
• Cases produced: 307
• Alcohol: 13.5%
• Residual sugar: 0.5%
• Total T.A.: 6 g/L

After our initial impressions, we found out where this wine really shined for us. We were having homemade chicken Kiev for dinner and had plenty of wine left over to enjoy with it. The wine went wonderfully with the dish. The food bolstered the apparent structure of the wine and the wine enhanced the flavor of the chicken. I’ll be using this pairing again!

Would I recommend the 2016 Viognier from Wedding Oak? If you like light and crisp style, then absolutely. If you like Viognier in a heavier structured style, then you might like it, but you would probably enjoy some of the other offerings around the state better.