I’ve lived in Virginia long enough to know that I shouldn’t get too complacent about the warmer temperatures at the end of the winter/start of spring.  Given the relatively mild winter we’ve had this year, I feel like I need to be particularly careful not to jinx things.  That said, I’ve decide to embrace the warmer days when they’re here, and part of thinking spring in my book is drinking like its spring.  That means I’m starting to add more white wines into the rotation.  One of these wines we had recently was the 2009 Pollak Vineyards viognier.

When I first swirled and sniffed this wine, I noted some fairly typical viognier characteristics: white stone fruit (primarily apricot) and honeysuckle.  As I started to sip, however, I noted some interesting elements.  I noted the honeysuckle, apricot, and peach you might expect from a viognier, but I also noted some lime zest elements.  Lime is not a flavor I typically associate with viognier, but it was really working for me here.  I also noted that this wine, aged completely in stainless steel, had a nice full mouthfeel.  You typically find that slightly fuller-bodied viognier when some oak is used, but here you can find it without the oak influence (something I’m not typically a big fan of with this grape).

Pollak has become one of our favorite wineries, a place where we can count on both the reds and the whites to deliver for us on a regular basis.  This bottle just makes me really excited for a taste of their 2010 viognier.  You’ve got to love the optimism spring can bring.