2007 Graham Beck Viognier, South Africa

Graham Beck Wines is now entering its third generation as a family winery. It was established in 1983 when entrepreneur Graham Beck purchased Madeba farm outside the Western Cape town of Robertson with a fervent ambition to establish a world-class winery in this region. The success of the Robertson winery has been extended to the second Graham Beck cellar in Franschhoek, one of the oldest wine-making regions in South Africa.

The success of Graham Beck Wines can be attributed to passion, commitment, skill and access to the finest quality grapes. But most of all it can be attributed to the vision of one man – Graham Beck. Graham Beck wines were served at Nelson Mandela’s inauguration party. This viognier is very different in style to a California Viognier. Less floral and intense honeysuckle and more stone fruit and minerality.

Aromas: apricot, peach, mineral, light floral notes
Body: medium
Color: golden yellow

From the website: 7 year old vineyards from our Robertson estate. Grapes were harvested by hand in the 3rd week of February in Robertson. 60% of the grapes were fermented in 3rd fill French oak barrels and the other 40% in stainless steel tanks. The portion in barrel spent 2 months on the primary lees for a creamy texture, and was left to mature for a further 3 months in barrel before it was blended with the stainless steel tank portion prior to bottling.

Tasting Notes: “A wine with a soft golden hue. A nose rich with peaches and cream, and ripe apricots dusted with icing sugar. An elegant entry supported by a crisp acidity gives delicate weight but huge flavours of pineapples and pears with dried apricots on the finish completing the circle.”

Eat with: beet & feta salad, olive oil & herb marinated feta, pickled vegetables, upland cress & yellow beet vinaigrette

Website: http://www.grahambeckwines.com/

2007 Imagery Estate Winery Viognier, Russian River Valley

Imagery Estate Winery is owned by the Benziger family who is dedicated to Biodynamic farming practices and has made wine in the Sonoma Valley since 1980. “Dedicated to crafting small quantities of rare wines from uncommon varieties and character rich vineyards, Imagery Estate Winery was born of a thirst for experimentation and willingness to take risks.”

The first Imagery wines were introduced in 1985, at a time when Winemaker Joe Benziger's family was forging the fighting varietals category with their Benziger brand. Despite the demands of producing wildly popular value wines, the Benzigers' indefatigable desire to experiment inspired and energized the winemaking team, who were given exceptional blocks of fruit, over which they had complete creative freedom. The best of these wines were bottled to become the Imagery series.

For these handcrafted, limited-production wines, Joe Benziger wanted labels as evocative as the winemaking. He fortuitously met a local artist named Bob Nugent, whom he commissioned to create an original work of art. Nugent's inventive triptych Chardonnay label was the beginning of the Imagery artist series. During the last 20 years, Nugent has served as curator of the Imagery art collection, commissioning hundreds of international artists to design one-of-a-kind artwork for Imagery labels.

Aromas: peach, apricot, honeysuckle, citrus
Body: medium
Color: yellow

From their website: Vintage: A dry winter led to a fairly early bud break in 2007. Overall the growing season was evenly paced with a just a few heat spikes in the early summer. Warm August weather started harvest early, but then a cool September slowed things quite a bit and grapes hung on the vines another few weeks. This cool period helped to develop complexity in flavors while keeping sugars under control. 2007 was one of the longest harvests Sonoma County has seen in recent years, spanning almost three months from start to finish. This vintage was certainly smaller in quantity than 2006, but in many cases the lower yields meant more concentrated flavors.

Vinification: We whole berry press and use only the free run juice to preserve the wine's beautiful delicacy. Cold fermentation in stainless steel tank maintains the delicate flavors during fermentation. In this vintage, 15% of our Viognier went through barrel fermentation in French oak to add body and mouthfeel to the final blend. The wine was bottled in February of 2008. 664 cases

Eat with: pastis scented steamed mussels, garlic, leeks, herbs, grilled bread

Website: www.imagerywinery.com

Check out Imagery Estate Winery labels at http://www.imagerywinery.com/labels.html