Last night I was reminded of the infinite amount of wine that is produced throughout the world.  I say this because I came to the conclusion that it is near impossible to choose a certain type of wine as a favorite across the board because it can be made in so many different ways.  

Up until last night I declared my favorite wine to be any white Rhone varietals (Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne), but in reality I made this decision based on only a couple of producers that make really great ones.  So what I arrived at after my tasting group’s latest meeting was that when talking about my favorite white wine I have to be more specific and say any Tablas Creek white Rhone is my favorite.  I was also reminded of how both wines and my palate can drastically change over time.  A Carina Cellars Viognier was one of the first Santa Barbara white wines I ever tasted, and I remember loving it.  

Ever since that day I have stuck by that memory, but last night the wine did not impress me like it had in the past.My tasting group met last night, and the focus was white Rhone varietals from anywhere in the world.  California, France, and Australia are a few of the main producers of these wines.  This tasting was very different than any other we have had because there were only four wines.  This allowed us to do a more focused tasting of the wines.  

Luckily it worked out that we had a nice geographical variety.  We had two from the Northern Rhone (France), one from Paso Robles, and one from California’s Central Coast.First up to the plate was a Marsanne-Roussanne blend from the Crozes-Hermitage Appellation in the Northern Rhone Valley.  The blend, which is 80% Marsanne, was produced by Etienne Pochon.  Crozes Hermitage is the largest of all of the northern appellations of Cotes du Rhone, and only 10% of the wine produced here is white.  The original estate here was founded in the 16th century.  

This deeply gold hued wine has rich aromas of ripe white peaches and exudes a sort of sweet spiciness.  It follows through with a full mouthfeel reminiscent of an oaked California Chardonnay with a more acidic backbone, waxier texture, and different flavor profile.  For me the richness of this wine was not adequately balanced out by crisp acidity and left me with a slightly bitter finish that I had a difficult time deciding on the degree to which it was unpleasant.  

While it was good with the mildly flavored hard cheese and pear and caramelized onion flatbread that we had, its creaminess was too intense for our grilled shrimp and asparagus.Next we had a Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne blend produced by Les Vins de Vienne in the Northern Cotes du Rhone region.  Its yellow gold collor in the decanter stood out from the rest.  The nose screamed huge honeyed melon to all of us.  

I wish we had had a roasted cauliflower dish to go with this wine.  I preferred the slightly higher acid of this wine to the Crozes Hermitage though it still did not give me the clean, crisp mouthfeel that I was looking for. Third in the bunch was my wine, which did not even come close to disappointing me.  I bought this wine when I went tasting up in Paso Robles at Tablas Creek, which is a winery dedicated to Rhone varietals and founded by the Perrin family of Chateau de Beaucastel.  

The 2006 blend of Viognier, Marsanne, Grenache Blanc, and Roussanne, called Cotes de Tablas Blanc, is the perfect balance of aromatics, richness, minerality and crisp acids.  This is exactly the type of white wine that I prefer drinking.  I just love the full mouthfeel that is not creamy but instead clean and refreshing, blending pleasant flavors of white peach, melon, and citrus.  The acidity on the finish is not bitter because it is balanced by the minerality and fruit.  We unanimously picked this wine as our favorite.  

Last  we had the 2006 Carina Cellars Central Coast Viognier.  Carina Cellars has a tasting room in Los Olivos that I love.  For some reason this wine really did not do much for any of us and was disappointing mainly because I remember loving it.  I have two more bottles of it in my cellar that I’m looking forward to tasting.  Although it was aged in neutral oak barrels with its creamy richness I would not have guessed that.  

I did like the ripe apricot on the palate that I got upon tasting it, ut overall not much to say about this one.Foods to have with these wines should be on the richer side.  Go for silky pan-seared diver scallops, hard Goat or Manchego cheese, caramelized onions, and flatbread pizza.

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager