Sometimes bottle labels sucker in the best of us. In this case 2008 Fetish “The V Spot” Viognier called to me time and time against at The Community Tap in Greenville. After a rather uninspiring Viognier over thanks giving, this bottle seemed like a must try. So can 2008 The V Spot Viognier help find Viognier nirvana, or is it just imitating a goddess?
Sight: Gold. Like really gold. Like past Sauternes gold. Like ‘gold is slightly jealous’ gold.
Smell: There’s just not a lot of depth. It’s a very rich, creamy, musky floral kind of smell. It has a hint of rubber. Truth be told, the first thought was it smelled vaguely like latex. The shame is there are little peek-a-boos of some fruit smells, but nothing, “fruit forward”.
Sip: There’s a subtle sweetness at the start that fades into a moderately crisp powerhouse style wine. There’s orange, lemon, and grapefruit, as well as some starfruit, cantaloupe, and papaya, but they’re absolutely buried under a florist’s shop of floral tastes (from rose to lavender to lily to carnation to you name it, some how it got mixed up in there), and enough oak to panel an old school library (the oak is frankly absurd for only 10 months in French Oak, but it does show that characteristic smoothness).
It took 2 glasses of warming and cooling the wine to find this sweet spot, and a long time on the palate. Too cold, and it’s all cream and floral, musky smoke. Too warm, and it’s nothing but acidic floral notes with some smoked butter. It’s an extremely temperamental wine. The mouth feel is consistently amazing though, it’s very pleasurable to feel, but as it warms it grows slightly hot. [A.B.V. 14%]
Savor: For all the reward is something that’s a bit musky and floral, with notes of cantaloupe. As it lingers quite a while, it takes tours through butter, cream, smoke, and a bit of bright tropical fruit. What a finish it is, it goes for well over a minute, evolving and changing, gradual revealing more character.
Overall, 2008 Fetish “The V Spot” Viognier by far and away the most fussy bottle of anything that I’ve personally ever tried. With some wines it’s very simple to say that they’re just not up to scratch, or that they need more time, or even that they’re just too simple or complex for their own good. Rarely, is it a case exact fine tuning.
In this case it seems to need to have the temperature where it’s just right. When it’s dead on, it’s brilliant, but getting there is hard. If anything it might be worth leaning towards where it’s warmer, since the warmer it gets the more fruit and oak balance. To be frank, the nose is just disappointing, but the finish is wonderfully long though, and for oak lovers, who want complexity, this offers a rare chance to have a Viognier that’s gotten the full treatment. That said, Viognier lovers should try this too. It’s certainly a unique wine.
Verdict: I don’t even wanna make the com…
Price: $20.99
Barossa Valley, Australia
http://www.fetishwines.com/vspot_home.html