Drop of the Day – Yalumba Eden Valley Viognier 2018
One of the world’s leading Viognier winemakers produces one of their finest and most characterful wines yet!
No matter what part of the world you grow your grapes in, there's always going to be a slight variation in the climate from year to year. Some years are better than others. And from 2017 to 2018, the grapes of Yalumba’s Eden Valley Viognier experienced some of the most idyllic conditions a vintner could possibly hope for.
A beautifully wet winter, followed by a drier than average spring and balmy summer produced perfectly balanced and flavoured grapes. In fact, they were so good they were considered worthy of the Yalumba Samuel’s Collection, one which honours Yalumba’s founder Samuel Smith.
What does it all mean? To put it plainly, the Yalumba Eden Valley Viognier is a really good wine. But if you dig a little deeper with the senses, you will discover that its pure aromas are reminiscent of fresh apricots, ginger, saffron and fresh white flowers. The palate is long and silky with stone fruit flavours, finishing with an alluring freshness. If you can manage to resist all that, it will continue to grow and develop in the bottle, firstly showing enhanced apricots and spice, then honey flavours and toast complexity. Sounds like wine worth waiting for to us.
Viognier of this type pairs beautifully with Asian and Middle Eastern cuisines. We recommend pairing it with our Lamb and Pomegranate Tagine or Mussels with Spiced Israeli Couscous.
The conditions may change but with 170 years of unbroken independence, Yalumba continues to make wine at its founder’s home estate under direction of the same family today.
Samuel’s collection honours Samuel Smith and his spirit of independence and conviction to invest in the land and make great wine. The wines in this collection point to Yalumba’s long presence in the Barossa, as well as its direct lineage to some of Australia’s first vine plantings, several of which were found in Samuel’s first vineyards. The wines own provenance link to the vineyards that provide the premium fruit located in the two Barossa regions of Eden Valley and Barossa Valley.
Pick up a bottle of Yalumba Eden Valley Viognier 2018 today from your local stockist.
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Enter the dish tasting panel:
New Zealand Emerging Whites.
It’s that time again where our next Dish Tasting Panel will focus on New Zealand Emerging Whites, with results to be published in our April/May 2025 issue.
latest issue:
HOLIDAY
dish HOLIDAY is your go-to magazine for summer entertainment. Chock-full of recipes to share in the warmer weather dish HOLIDAY is a one-off special edition, designed for the beach, bach, boat or back yard. Different than a regular issue of dish, it is dedicated to making the most of warm-weather leisure time, including barbecue and salad recipes, Spotify playlists, a beach read, crosswords and puzzles, fish and chip and ice cream guides and much more.
This issue is not part of the 12-month subscription and is available only at retail in Aotearoa New Zealand.