Syrah/ Viognier Co-ferments? List of Producers with this style?

WINE TALK
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I’ve long been intrigued by Viognier/ Syrah co-fermentation. It can be difficult to discover producers who make wines this way (can’t easily check on Cellartracker) so I’d like to create a list of producers and also would love to hear comments if any winemakers would like to share them regarding pros/ cons, etc.
What producers am I missing? Are there any new world AFWE-ish producers creating wines like these?

I’ve had Reynvaan, and was tempted to purchase the Paul Lato “Cinematique” recently but the tariff is fairly high on that and it may be too modern for me.

List: (Will update with additions)

Guigal La Mouline
Guigal La Turque
Rostaing Cote Blonde
Paul Lato Cinematique
Reynvaan “In The Rocks”

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Cayuse Cailloux
Rotie Cellars Northern Blend

3

I believe that some (but not all) of the Bedrock syrahs (Hudson Vineyard - Carneros; Kick Ranch - Sonoma) have been syrah/viognier co-ferments.

4

I posted figures on Cote Rotie producers in a thread a few years back based Jonathan Livingstone-Learmonth’s book on the Northern Rhone. He’s a great resource on that.

I’m in Vancouver this week and had two very good British Columbia syrahs that were co-fermented with viognier:

Le Vieux Pin - Cuvee Violette (“a couple percent” viognier)

Laughing Stock Winery - Perfect Hedge Vineyard (4%)

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Ridge Lytton Estate Syrah: http://www.ridgewine.com/Wines/Rhones/Syrah

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Was just in Okanagan and tasted through 22 wineries… i think LVP and Laughing stock makes the best Syrahs in BC… so you certainly hit on good producers… (though i prefer LVP’s regular syrah to the violette).

Waters - in WA state makes a syrah with viognier as well

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Thread on this very issue here.

8

Clonakilla’s Shiraz/Viognier is a delicious wine from Canberra and is cofermented.

9

From another earlier thread, per Livingstone-Learmonth, here are major Cote Rotie producers with amount of viognier they use:

Bernard - 0%h
Barge - 5%
Bonnefonds - 8%-10% for Cote Roziers
Burgaud - 0%
Champet - 6% (of vineyard)
Chapoutier - 3% for Les Becasses
Clusel-Roch - 4% for regular bottling
Yves Cuilleron - 10% for Bassenon cuvee
Pierre Gaillard - 20% (!) for Les Vialleres cuvee for the U.S.
Gangloff - 10% for Barbarine cuvee
Gerin - 10% for Champin cuvee
Guigal - 5% for Brune & Blonde; 11% for La Mouline; 7% for La Turque; 0% for La Landonne
Jasmin - 4%-5%
Levet - 0%
Rostaing - 3%-5% for Brune & Blonde
Vidal-Fleury - 3%-5% for Brune & Blonde

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In the New World Torbreck RunRig is my favorite.

He also tried it with Marsanne and Roussanne in 2005 under the Lost Highway label.

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And just to state expressly what is implied, any Cote Rotie with Viognier in the blend will be cofermented because cofermentation is required by the AOC rules.

12

Yering Station from the Yarra Valley makes a delicious co-fermented Shiraz/Viognier

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For some reason I didn’t know that about Cailloux, and I have 3 vintages of it! I’ll check out Rotie, been meaning to do that.

14

Thanks for the link, I’ll have to check out John’s book.

15

I’ll add Araujo to the list, assuming they still make syrah. And Carole Meredith mentioned more than a decade ago on another forum that they included 0.04% Viognier because they had two vines as a result of a nursery error and decided to just throw that fruit in as well. I don’t know if they ever replaced those vines.

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Livingstone-Learmonth is the definitive reference on the Northern Rhone.

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I do, or I did, as I don’t buy Syrah anymore. In August I bottled our 2009 Syrah/Viognier cofermented “XVII” since it’s is 17% Viognier. 100% whole cluster and 57 months in barrel.

18

Why so long in barrel, Todd? And were those new or old barrels? (I guess they were old by the time you bottled!)

19

Yamhill county Syrah seemed so uptight for so long that I just kept waiting. Finally it moved more and more towards what I was hoping for, and then it really got interesting. Once I was totally in love it only took a year before I moved in to bottle.

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That’s 'cause you wanted it to taste like a Pinot, no? [wink.gif]