2008 Dona Paula Viognier and 2009 Clos du Bois Chardonnay

Combining 2 whites today, a 2008 Dona Paula Naked Pulp Series viognier from the mountains of Argentina and a 2009 Clos du Bois chardonnay from the Russian River.  The viognier was part of a mixed case; the chardonnay ran me about $14.

I like viognier, and I had to hold myself back from finishing the whole bottle of this in one sitting.  A very fragrant wine.  The label claims notes of apricots, orange peel, and flowers, which I'd agree with; flowers are what came to mind drinking it.  They also ascribe a "high natural acidity" to it, which I'll agree with, but it wasn't too much to the acidic end of the spectrum like in some whites.  I bet this would go great with SE Asian cuisine or maybe lobster.

This is my first chardonnay in several years actually, as witnessed in part by the fact that I didn't have a chardonnay label here yet.  It's not that I don't care for it, I just tend to avoid it since it used to be my Go To white ordering in a restaurant.

This one is in Clos du Bois' Calcaire series.  What struck me on the first few tastes was vanilla -- lots of vanilla notes.  Also that after a night in the fridge (cork) the rest of the bottle had already lost a lot of the initial notes.  The label claims green apple, white peach, mandarin, and spice.  I can't distinguish all those in a glass of fruit juice; it seems a stretch catching all of them here, but everyone's palate is different.  A nice chardonnay, but as I haven't drunk one in a while, I'm not in a good position to make comparisons at this point.