- DECANTER "Top 20 Viognier wines beyond the Rhone", Fiona Beckett (2/2021): (…)"It’s certainly not a cool-climate variety, and it needs sun and warm Mediterranean-style temperatures to express its heady perfume. The key to success with the grape is not picking too early or too late, agree Louisa Rose of Yalumba and Laurent Miquel, two winemakers who have devoted their winemaking careers to Viognier and whose wines dominated this tasting (we could have justifiably included all of them). (…)
Many of the cheaper wines, mostly under the Pays d’Oc IGP – and produced, I suspect, to add interest to an entry-level range – lacked the grape’s seductive peach and apricot character, while some of the more expensive examples were more about the oak than the fruit. ‘I think the exposure to oxygen you get in oak barrels is beneficial to Viognier, but it is very easy to overdo it,’ says Miquel. ‘We are using larger and larger oak tanks to make sure the wines are not over-oaked.’ (…)
Viognier is affected more than other wines by the way you drink it. Like Chardonnay, it’s not a wine for serving too cold or in too small a glass. Most producers recommend a serving temperature of 10°C, but Laurent Miquel suggests 12°-14°C, and even decanting it. I personally find a Burgundy-style glass also makes the better Viogniers more expressive – Rose favours a Shiraz or Tempranillo glass."
VERKOSTUNGSSIEGER: Laurent Miquel Verite Viognier 2018
- 96 Punkte und somit VERKOSTUNGSSIEGER DECANTER "Top 20 Viognier wines beyond the Rhone", Fiona Beckett (2/2021): "The flagship wine of Languedoc Viognier specialist Laurent Miquel, this comes from a single plot on schist and is matured in French oak. Handsomely bottled, heady and sumptuously perfumed, it’s like biting into a perfectly ripe peach. Immediately gratifying, but with staying power too. Exceptionally good value for money."