2021 Viognier

We had a heat dome (temperatures over 40C) in June and July 2021, which made growing anything green a challenge; vines ‘close down’ (protect themselves and don’t grow), and, in this year, grapes didn’t get very big! Seeing a shortage of our go-to white varieties of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris, we started looking around for options. Andrew found a few tonnes of Viognier from a neighbouring vineyard and said, ‘wanna make some Viognier?’ Jan asked, ‘ever made Viognier?’ and next thing we knew we had Viognier in the cellar.

At Maverick, we try to keep our hands off the wines in the cellar – natural ferments (not adding any commercial yeast) where possible, minimal handling, fining or fitration. One of the challenges of this approach is that nature doesn’t always play on your timeline, and this Viognier was a great example – a planned 8 months in barrel turned in to 14 months, and finally the wine was ready to show off its flair.

This Viognier grown on the Golden Mile Slopes Sub-GI is bursting with fresh Okanagan stone fruit. Fully barrel fermented in neutral French oak this wine has a subtle nuttiness and well-rounded mouthfeel that adds a nice complexity to the wine.

TASTING NOTES:
Our first look at this Viognier vineyard directly across the road from the winery gives a soft and delicate style despite spending over a year and a half in the barrel. The nose is expressive with fresh peach, thyme, lemon zest and vanilla. The palate is surprisingly nimble with stone fruit up front and a citrus kick in the finish. The fully barrel-fermented wine has a slightly nutty, hazelnut note that adds a nice complexity to the wine.

WINEMAKING:
The Viognier grapes were hand harvested at the peak of ripeness on October 2, 2021. Once at the winery, the grapes are removed from the stems and gently pressed in small batches. At this point the freshly pressed juice is gently pumped into stainless steel tanks. These tanks are equipped with chilling capability to preserve the juce’s freshness. The juice is left in that tank to allow solids to settle out in the bottom of the tank. After 24 hours, the clear juice is “racked” off the sediment into neutral French Oak barrels where it will be left to ferment naturally without any cultured yeasts or additives. Once ferment was complete, the barrels received “battonage” (stirring) twice a week for 3 weeks. This procedure helps to suspend the lees (sediment), giving the wine texture and mouthfeel. The wine is then left in the barrel for the aging process. This wine was lightly filtered prior to bottling.

WINEMAKER’S COMMENTS:
2021 was a vintage of extremes. The Spring started off cool with intermittent rain, with average bud burst and bloom. Mid June brough the ‘heat dome’, with more than two weeks of temperatures over 35C, topping out at 47C. This caused the vineyard to shut down to protect from the heat. 30+C days continued through July and August, exceeding the historical average for the south Okanagan. August brought smoke cover with wildfires raging for the latter half of the month. Maverick started harvest on September 1st with ripe Sauvignon Blanc and rushed to the finish line with the last of the Bordeaux reds harvested in mid-October. The 2021 vintage is showing to make powerful wines with great acidity.

NOTES:
Production – 398 cases produced
Alcohol – 12.0%
Varietals – 100% Viognier
Vinification – hand-picked, destemmed and pressed to stainless steel tanks for settling, then racked to neutral French oak to ferment naturally (no cultured yeasts or additives), and aged on lees in barrel for 14 months
Cellaring – can be cellared up to 5 years