Wine of the Week: Fess Parker Viognier

What a heavy week. The anniversary of the Boston Marathon brought a lot of heavy heartedness to the city, and another suspicious backpack brought flashbacks and nerves. I hope the rest of the week brings peace and cheers and at worst sore muscles as we look forward to welcoming the Boston Marathon back.

Before the week began, I got away to enjoy some seriously warm temperatures (80 degrees!) and belated birthday celebrations with my family in NJ. Originally we planned on going out to dinner, but when the weather turned out to be perfect, we decided to grill at my sister’s.

I knew I wanted a luscious white for sipping on the backyard swing while my brother-in-law kindly cooked dinner, and I was pretty sure it had to be a Viognier. Luckily the Wine Chateau, a store near my mom, offered a good selection, including my choice, this 2010 Fess Parker Viognier from Santa Barbara County.

Just as you would expect from a Viognier, this wine was full of stone fruit flavor like ripe peaches. The mouth feel on a Viognier is such a huge part of its beauty, and this one certainly had weight, along with slight oak and vanilla notes. This Viognier goes perfectly with sunshine. I also highly recommend pairing it with a grilled dinner.  We had a serious feast of grilled shrimp, chicken sausage, lobster, mushrooms, asparagus, corn, and salad, followed by homemade chocolate ice cream. It was pretty much the best birthday dinner I could have asked for, and it was a nice preview of summer.