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00:00 – INTRO

00:26 – A BIT ABOUT THE MARY LE BOW WINES

00:56 – A CLOSER LOOK AT THE CULTIVAR OF VIOGNIER

01:40 – SUGAR VS ACID DURING GRAPE RIPENING

02:15 – WHAT DOES THE MARY LE BOW VIOGNIER SMELL AND TASTE LIKE?

03:30 – WHERE DOES ACID COME FROM IN A WINE?

04:05 – HOW DOES MALOLACTIC CONVERSION OCCUR IN A WINE?

05:00 – THE SENSORY EFFECTS OF MALOLACTIC CONVERSION ON A VIOGNIER

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The Frater Family has a farm in Ashton, Wellington, with some really quite impressive high altitude vineyards. Bruce Jack, a friend of the family, has taken on the task of capturing the majesty of this mountain vineyard in a bottle. Which he does quite nicely. Of course, it must be acknowledged that Bruce Jack still brings a little of himself to the bottle, in that he is an incurable blender (almost all of his best single cultivar wines seem to have the maximum dose of “a little something on the side”) and so this wine also features a solid 15% of old vine Chenin Blanc from Stellenbosch. Then again, this is hardly a problem, as (to quote Donkey in Shrek) “Ain’tno one ever said, ‘hell, no, I don’t like no [old vine chenin blanc]'” . This wine is one of the most old world-ey Viogniers i have tasted to date, (and decidedly more elegant than some of the said Old Worlde examples). If that makes no sense to you, perhaps the tasting notes will:

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👃🏼 A quite shy nose initially, which opens up as the wine warms a little in the glass. Elements of zesty mandarin peel, honeysuckle, and apricots emerge, garnished with a hint of flint, and touch of oak-inspired nutmeg spice.

👄 The palate is delightfully fresh, with really quite impressive limey acidity, and some subtle riverstone elements and tart granny smith apple. Intriguingly steely, for a viognier. Behind the quite tart entry, there is warmer sweeter stone fruit that starts to emerge, before fading again, and leaving one with lingering lime notes and some subtle nutmeg on the finish.