Oeno Files

What else could I think but, "I hope I like it." My wife had bought a case of a Shiraz-Viognier blend based solely on the enthusiastic description in an email from a salesperson at a local wine shop.

Ruddy shiraz blended with the floral viognier?

What??

I was happy to discover that the store had a bottle of the Black Chook available for tasting when we went to pick the case up. The wine was paid for, but at least I'd know what I was taking home.

Wow, was it nice. Tonight, opening the first bottle of the case for dinner (Spice painted salmon and some ginger-sesame broccoli) it was even better. The first three flavor notes that came to my mind when initially tasting were cherry, oak, and black currant. After a while a got of sort of buried floral character that I dubbed "flowers in the cellar." The wine mellowed a bit with the food and was pleasant all evening.

Later I tracked down more information from the U.S. importer's website. Notes there suggested that the 5% viognier adds "a wonderful apricot perfume." Okay, let's call those flowers in the cellar "apricot blossoms."

Good stuff, and we have eleven more to go....