Viader Futures Reviews
2008, 2007 & 2006

 

Tanzer Review on 2007 & 2008 VIADER

 Just in! Stephen Tanzer of the International Wine Cellar has rated our flagship blend 2007 VIADER 94 points, and our 2008 VIADER also received 91-94 points, one of the highest potential scores of all of the 2008 wines in the review ("Focus on California's North Coast," May/June 2010). 

He describes the 2007 VIADER as: "Good deep red-ruby. Lovely violet lift to the dark cherry and licorice flavors. Suave, juicy and energetic, with terrific inner-mouth aromatic appeal to the sweet berry and floral flavors. Not an opulent style but plenty sweet for 2007. Finishes with lovely length, firm but fully ripe tannins and lingering minerality. Delia Viader told me she's really proud of this wine."
Of the 2008 VIADER, Tanzer writes: "Full medium red. Cherry, flowers, licorice and minerals on the nose. Then energetic and intense in the mouth, with savory fruit and floral flavors joined by a strong element of crushed rock. Not at all a candied style of Napa cabernet; in fact, this is downright serious. The tannins reach the front teeth on the long, juicy, floral finish. This is a full degree lower in alcohol than the 2007, according to winemaker Alan Viader, who left the leaves on the vines to protect the fruit against late-season heat spikes and parching sun. "The season never got too warm," he told me, "although the ripeness was jagged. It took work to get the density needed to fatten up the wines." This looks to be a worthy successor to the superb 2007.

 

2007 VIADER:

Good bright ruby-red. Aromatically complex nose offers blackberry, licorice and violet. Sweet but quite backward, with noteworthy energy to the black cherry and licorice flavors. With the lowest percentage of cabernet franc since the 2003, this finishes quite firm, with building tannins and lingering notes of minerals and graphite. Today the "V" comes across as riper and more expressive, but this may be more serious. (Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, May/June 2009)

2007 "V"

Good deep ruby. Musky blueberry aromas lifted by violet and orchid (the note of exotic flowers comes from the very ripe petit verdot component in 2007, says Delia Viader). Sweet, dense and lush, combining good inner-mouth perfume with serious underlying structure. Cocoa powder and spice flavors resound on the expanding finish, where sweet tannins dust the front teeth. (Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, May/June 2009)

 

2006 VIADER:

Currant and violet on the nose. Supple, sweet and nicely aromatic in the mouth, offering more breadth than the "V". The violet note carries through to the back of this ripe and attractive wine, which finishes with firm, building tannins. Winemaker Alan Viader has been doing more extraction since 2005, including a longer pre-fermentation cold soak and more post-fermentation maceration. He told me that total time on the skins in 2006 was between 55 and 69 days, whereas not long ago it was more like 30 to 35 at VIADER. (Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, May/June 2009)

 

2006 "V":

Aromas of black-cherry, licorice and bitter chocolate. Juicy, spicy flavors of black fruits and flowers; not a fleshy wine but silky and fine-grained. Finishes with firm but ripe tannins and lingering notes of currant and dark cherry. (Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, May/June 2009)

2007 VIADER Syrah
(not availabe for Futures Ordering)

Bright red-ruby. Varietally expressive nose offers raspberry, smoked meat, rose petal, violet, mocha and brown spices. Sweet, spicy and juicy, with vibrant notes of spices, flowers and cocoa powder. There's no new oak to get in the way of the wine's red fruit perfume. This has a pH of 4.0, notes Alan Viader, and yet the overall impression is one of freshness and lift, probably due in part to the 12% whole clusters that went into the fermentation tank. One of the most convincing barrel samples of syrah that I've tasted here to date...(it seemed a bit more pliant and floral [since] last year.) 90-93 pts. (Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, May/June 2009)