The Desert wine Guy - 2018 Pine Ridge - Chenin Blanc & Viognier

   How does a wine reviewer get excited? No, it's not a sick joke, its a serious question. For me, as a wine reviewer, one of the ways that I get excited is when I perform a tasting/review of a wine that is from one of my favorite wineries. Having said that, I will now tell you that today, I am indeed excited. I'll also tell you that in the process of coming across today's review wine I also found a wine shop not far from my house that carries some really big name Napa Valley wines that I simply haven't been able to find here in my neck of the woods. Aside from picking up our review wine, I also picked up the 2009 BV (Beaulieu Vineyard) red blend. By the way, BV is also one of my favorite Napa Valley wineries so I am doubly excited. I can't wait to see what today's wine has in store for me so let's do this.
    Today I am reviewing the 2018 Pine Ridge - Chenin Blanc & Viognier (https://www.pineridgevineyards.com/cbv/) blend. The grapes for this wine are sourced from the Clarksburg (Chenin Blanc) and Lodi (Viognier) California Appellations which are both located outside Sacramento. The wine is a blend of 78% Chenin Blanc & 22% Viognier. The alcohol percentage of this wine is 12.5% and I paid $16 for it. The Pine Ridge Winery is owned by Crimson Wine Group (https://www.crimsonwinegroup.com/about-us/our-brands) which is located in Napa Valley, California.

   I want to now talk about the two different grape varietals involved in the creation of this wine, let's start with the Chenin Blanc varietal. The home of this grape varietal is the Loire Valley in France. This varietal usually has high acidity and is therefore used in Sparkling Wine. In the Loire Valley, the temperature is cooler and therefore produces a higher in acidity grape then elsewhere. In reality, the Chenin Blanc variety is Frances answer to Riesling. Between you and me, the Chenin Blanc varietal is cleaner, crisper, and is actually preferred by me. The wine varietal of Chenin Blanc is named after Mont Chenin in Touraine, a wine region to the east of Anjou in the Middle Loire. In reference to this wine, the varietal is very seldom planted in the Napa Valley due to the fact that the prices of the grapes are low.
    Now. let's move to the varietal of Viognier. Here again, is another wine grape that originated in France, southern France. The varietal can be oak-aged and can present notes of peach, tangerine & honeysuckle. This grape is considered to be softer in the acidity aspect but normally higher in the alcohol department. Overall there are generally two different styles of wine made from the grape. The new oak aging delivers a richer creamier taste, lower acidity, and aromas of clove, nutmeg, and vanilla. Neutral and no oak aging (think Stainless steel) will deliver more floral and tropical fruit flavors in the wine while maintaining its acidity and often a subtle bitter note.

   I must talk about the nose of this wine now. I definitely have to let you know that I am getting the feeling (the sense) that this is going to turn out to be a very vibrant white wine here. Starting off, I am picking up nice, juicy & and rather forward notes of lemon & pineapple. Adding to these notes is a Honeysuckle that simply adds to the perceived brightness of the wine. Topping the nose off is a deep nectarine that is not really forward but is certainly appreciated and enjoyed. I certainly hope my perceptions of the wines palate presentation are indeed correct because if they are, the wine should be very enjoyable.
   Let's check out the palate presentation of this wine now. Ripe pear and pineapple, while these two notes don't necessarily jump out at you, they are nevertheless pretty prominent on the opening palate, yummy. Following these two notes up is some pretty nice White Peach which adds to the brightness of the palate right from the beginning. Another awesome note here in the wine is that of zippy acidity and it presents itself to it to the point where you will at times detect an ever so slight tingle (not carbonation) on the Palate but no worries as it is very well placed and at just the right presentation level. How about some green apple guys? Well, this green apple is another nice and lively note and shows up here at the Mid-Palate again contributing to the wines palate liveliness. This green apple thankfully doesn't present any sharpness at all which is fine by me but I promise that you will know it is indeed there and effective in its presentation. By the way, in case you haven't guessed yet, the wine has no problems in displaying really nice and ripe tropical fruit so your palate will definitely be kept awake for the entire time you are at the pool. I guess I left that pool part out huh?

Winemaker - Michael Beaulac

I will talk more about this in the final paragraph. Before I move on I want to put your fears to ease because this is not a sweet wine by any means although there is a bit based upon the notes I have mentioned. It seems that the other Notes keep this sweetness in check for the most part and kind of gang up on it allowing only what is needed to come through. Overall I have to say that this is a dry wine. Adding to that zippy acidity that I mentioned earlier, there is also a little bit of a Lemon Zest and I have to tell you that this wine just takes over the entire palate from mouth feel to the actual flavors. All of the Notes present in this white wine blend play so well together with one another and without being overdone or offensive. On the Mid-Palate is a fairly big stone note which brings a fresh and clean boldness to the wine. Guys, the wine is just striking on the mouth and presents great structure. Also on that Mid-Palate, I get a semi-ripe nectarine which only adds to the stone note that the wine is so in love with but also brings with it some minerality as well. Okay folks, I think you all get the point, this wine is nice, really nice. Let's get to the conclusion paragraph and I will give you my rating on the wine.
   As I start off here, I want to tell you some good news. While at a wine shop the other day, I found this wine selling for $10.99 which is a heck of a lot better than $16.99. Between the lower price and the rating of the wine, I have found an awesome pool wine. This is a wine that I don not think guests will object to as there is just the perfect amount of sweetness/tropicalness and there is nothing that will cause anyone to shy away from the wine once they taste it. As far as my rating of this wine goes, on The Desert Wine Guy rating scale I am giving this wine 93 points. As a last note, while at the shop I picked up two more bottles of the wine.
                                                                                                                                   The Desert Wine Guy

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