Schubert Estate Le Jars Blanc Viognier 2018

In the Schubert style with richness aplenty as it works its way across the vast Viognier varietal landscape. There’s a feeling of development here. You see it in the mid-yellow colour. You smell the aromas of apricot, honey, orange blossom and musk, and you sense it; it’s ripe and ready to be enjoyed. A cool fermentation in French barriques followed by four months ageing in oak broadens the appeal of the wine, providing an unctuous – if not, obviously oak – background and texture for the palate with its glacé apricot, yellow peach and nectarine fruit intensity.  Freshness is delivered but the wine still remains on the rich side. Schubert grafted Viognier onto Semillon vines in 1999. The decision, as it turns out, was a smart one.