Winemaker Notes
This year's collaboration with Yves Gangloff is a wine of golden yellow color, aromatics of white flowers, golden raisins, white peaches and dried apricots with a touch of minerality that draws you into a palate that is full-bodied and layered with peaches, apricots, mango and that Stagecoach minerality. This wine is all about seduction!
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Viognier comes from the Stagecoach Vineyard in the southern part of Napa and is a made via a partnership with the Northern Rhône's Yves Gangloff. This flamboyant white gives up a huge nose of apricots, tangerines, flower oil, and honeyed almonds. Deep, rich, full-bodied, and opulent on the palate, it's one pleasure-bent beauty to drink over the coming year or two.
Full-figured and charmingly floral, Viognier is one of the most important white grapes of the northern Rhône where it is used both to produce single varietal wines and as an important blending grape. Look for great New World examples from California, Oregon, Washington and cooler parts of Australia. Somm Secret—Viognier plays a surprisingly important role in the red wines of Côte Rôtie in the northern Rhône. About 5% Viognier is typically co-fermented with the Syrah in order to stabilize the color, and as an added benefit, add a subtle perfume.
Just northeast of Napa city, Atlas Peak boasts some of Napa Valley’s highest elevation vineyards. Here the intense sunlight coupled with cool, nighttime temperatures produce grapes that are perfectly ripe, balanced and concentrated. The appellation is rich in volcanic soils and excels in the production of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.