Handley Cellars

“Water Tower White” varies from year to year. This year it happened to be Viognier, made in a semi-sweet style with 1.78% residual sugar (most dry wines have well below 1% RS). There’s also a bit of fizz in the first moments after you sip, which might throw some people. But it’s still Viognier, with all those tropical fruit and nut layers that anchor the wine no matter how sweet it is.

I particularly like how this wine holds together in the midrange of flavors. The most famous French Viognier (known as Condrieu, the place where it’s grown) often has this deceptively tight band of flavor from entry well past the midpalate. It’s after that that this wine shows how much it has going on. You can cheat and serve it a tad warmer to expand the layers a bit, but that would deprive you of some of the pure refreshment. That and the thought that you paid only $12 for this bottle. If you have any interest in Thai food or sweet-and-sour cuisine from southeast Asia or China, this wine is made for it.

Reviewed July 25, 2007 by Thom Elkjer.