Winey Tasting Notes: The One I Forgot – White Knight Viognier

I hate to admit this, and it really goes against my grain to do so, but I had a great bottle of wine all ready to serve on Thanksgiving, and I forgot about it.

This is something that no self respecting Winey Mom should probably admit to, but it did happen. And in my own Winey defense, there was a good reason it did.

You see, I had found a wonderful new Pinot Noir (Winey Tasting Notes: Route 152 Pinot Noir – Get There First) that I was so excited to serve on Turkey Day. (We normally host the family for the day, which means that I am chief cook and menu guru.) And then a few days before Thanksgiving, I tasted this wonderful Viognier and decided that we needed at least one bottle of it to serve the non-red lovers in the bunch. I also had an off dry-Riesling for my sister in law, who just LOVES Riesling, and since I really like her, I cannot deny her her favorite sip. So I certainly had enough wine for all of the wine drinkers in the crowd that day.

As dinner time got closer and the house filled up with family, the Pinot Noirs stood ready and waiting. The Riesling and Viognier were in the fridge, chilling away. Oh, I also had a bottle of inexpensive Chardonnay out for cooking purposes (I use wine in the gravy, the veggies and to baste with). My sister in law arrived and pulled out the Riesling and the rest of the folks sipped on the Pinot Noir. And they totally agreed with me that this was one good Pinot Noir. I was busy watching the turkey and finishing the veggies and warming up everything else, and didn’t really get to start sipping until a bit later.

That was when I discovered that the wonderful Pinot Noir was almost gone, so I had some Riesling. And some of the Chardonnay. And I have no idea why, but I totally forgot that I had a bottle of The White Knight Viognier (2013, 13.9%, Clarksburg, California) in the fridge. Me. I. Forgot. A. Bottle. Of. Wine.

The Winey Family Thanksgiving table, circa 2014

A few days later, while once again re-arranging leftovers, there it was. Yikes! My first feeling of “Oh no!” was quickly replaced with, “Oh good – a bottle of unopened wine for me.” So at the next available moment, I poured myself a glass.

The wine was as good as I remembered from the tasting. It was a pale yellow color with aromas of pear and starfruit, a touch of green pepper and some green apple. The taste was of mellow, ripe pear and sour orange peel with a finish of wet oak. It was full and round and mellow in my mouth and was so, so good!!

I’m not going to go into the underlying reasons that I “forgot” this bottle…let’s just say that I am very remorseful that it spent the day in the fridge, unopened and unappreciated. But I am in no way remorseful that I got to drink it – all to myself – a few days later. I’m going to think that it was the salary I earned for cooking the meal. And we’re going to leave it at that, OK???

Cheers!!