Yalumba The Virgilius Eden Valley Viognier 2020
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Australian Wine
Companion -
Wine
Spectator -
James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
This is Yalumba's flagship white wine. The Virgilius Viognier is often regarded as Australia's benchmark Viognier. This elegant wine will take you on an aromatic journey as it evolves in the glass.
Lifted ginger spice is layered on the palate with mineral, sourdough-like texture, apricots, and almond savories. The hallmark Viognier texture of the palate is clearly evident in this wine. It is complex while at the same time shows purity and restraint that will unwind slowly in the glass and take the imbiber on a sensory journey.
Vegan-Friendly
Professional Ratings
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Australian Wine Companion
The Virgilius continues to be the benchmark for viognier in Australia, no doubt prompting a few nervous glances from the French in the process. Pale straw in the glass with notes of apricot, lemon, grapefruit and crisp nashi pear with hints of soft spice, almond paste, marzipan, white flowers and crushed quartz. In the mouth, it weaves its textural magic leaving a slinky wake across the palate, finishing dry and stony with ample acid drive and precision and a lovely 'sucking on a river pebble' sense of savoury composure and elegance.
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Wine Spectator
The 2020 The Virgilius Viognier hails from a hot, dry, low-yielding season, yet the elevation of Eden Valley often protects it from the worst of the heat. It leads with aromas of nougat, white peach, apricot, jasmine tea and green apple skins. In the mouth, the wine is silky and svelte, unctuous in its flavor outlay, but taut in the splay of phenolics through the middle and back of the palate. Very smart, again. Matured for 10 months in French oak.
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James Suckling
Yalumba is the pioneer of viognier in Australia and they continue to do a good job. Fealty to type. Floral lift infused with orange blossom, apricot pith and glazed quince. Round and full-weighted. A nicely measured confluence of viscosity, tactile oak vanillin, oatmeal lees and freshness. Slippery length.
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Wine Enthusiast
This premium Viognier, from the winery that has cheered loudest for the variety, opens with flint and almond alongside honeyed orchard fruit aromas. Viognier’s characteristically luscious mouthfeel dominates the palate. The fruit and acidity are quiet, but holding on after a few years of bottle age. A subdued, food friendly and harmonious drop.
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Established in 1849, Yalumba is Australia’s most historic family-owned wine company showcasing the best of the Barossa and South Australian wine regions. Fiercely independent and extremely progressive through the generational ownership by the Hill-Smith family, their longevity and success are a result of patience, collaboration, and forward-thinking. Yalumba is a leader in the industry with the foresight to embrace the natural terroir to craft wines with individual character and a sense of purpose, as well as a spirit to reinvest in the land upon which it operates. Yalumba is committed to sharing stories of provenance gathered over 175 years of history of family winemaking.
Arguably the single most famous wine region in Australia, the Barossa includes both Barossa Valley and Eden Valley, making it one of the only areas in Australia to have neighboring warm and cool climate growing conditions. Yalumba is privileged to have access to some of the oldest vineyards in the world in Barossa Valley, including 1889 bush vine Grenache and 1908 Shiraz. They are committed to growing premium quality fruit reflecting distinctive varietal characters of the region.
Yalumba also operates the Southern Hemisphere's only fully operational Cooperage, crafting bespoke oak barrels that elevate the wines aged within them. While the beginnings of the Yalumba Cooperage remain a mystery lost in time, coopering has been a proud tradition at the winery for more than a century. Their coopers have been performing and perfecting their craft since around 1890. In the Nursery, Yalumba is a global leader in wine innovation, growing, evaluating, and supplying quality grape vines to the Australian wine industry. Yalumba has developed strong relationships with leading grapevine programs from around the world and have exclusive access to certain new varietals in Australia. This gives the Yalumba viticulturists and winemakers the unique opportunity to evaluate and develop new or emerging varieties before they are sold.
Yalumba continually strives to reduce their impact on the environment, stay involved in the community, and make great wine with minimal intervention in the vineyard and in the winery. They are committed to sustainable practices, with the belief that the healthier and more biodiverse the vineyards are, the better the wines will be. Yalumba has been developing its own sustainable viticulture program since the mid-1990s, promoting the economic production of quality grapes. For every acre of vineyard Yalumba own, they have at least one acre of native vegetation. All Yalumba wines are crafted with wild yeast, are 100% vegan, and are made with the least intervention possible but with as much knowledge, confidence, and expertise as possible.
Full-figured and charmingly floral, Viognier is one of the most important white grapes of the northern Rhône where it is used both to produce single varietal wines and as an important blending grape. Look for great New World examples from California, Oregon, Washington and cooler parts of Australia. Somm Secret—Viognier plays a surprisingly important role in the red wines of Côte Rôtie in the northern Rhône. About 5% Viognier is typically co-fermented with the Syrah in order to stabilize the color, and as an added benefit, add a subtle perfume.
Higher in elevation and topographically more dramatic than the Barossa Valley floor, Eden Valley abuts it to its south and east. While it is a bit of an extension of Barossa, Eden Valley is topographically different than the pastoral Barossa Valley, and is composed of rocky hills and eucalyptus groves.
Recognizing Eden Valley’s potential with Riesling in the 1960s and 70s, producers started to move their Riesling production from Barossa to these better sites where schist soils on hilltops would produce more steely, tart and age-worthy examples. A most famous site, planted by Colin Gramp, called Steingarten, today produces one of the most outstanding Australian Rieslings. Youthful Eden Valley Rieslings express floral, grapefruit and mineral, while with time in the bottle, they become increasingly toasty and complex.
Riesling isn’t the only grape the region can grow; undeniably at lower altitudes Shiraz does very well. Mount Edelstone is a notable vineyard as well as the Hill of Grace, which boasts healthy Shiraz vines well over 100 years old. This is the only Australian region where Merlot has a made a name for itself and Chardonnay can be spectacular, particularly from the High Eden subregion in the southern valley.