Eagerly Anticipated Vintage: Fly High Vineyard's Select 2011 Viognier Is Headed To The Bottle

Fly High Vineyards, a member of the Applegate Valley Wine Trail in pristine Applegate Valley, Oregon, is harvesting and bottling its fourth vintage of their select, under-10-barrel Viognier this month, called Windsock White. Despite the history of the Viognier grape being rare to find and difficult to grow, Fly High's viticultural success with Viognier in past years has rendered only a few cases left of their 2010 Viognier and a small remaining parcel of their award-winning 2009 Viognier, which are made available in their online store, or at their Applegate Valley tasting room. The 2011 Viognier is expected for release later this Fall, so be sure to sign up today for the exclusive deals offered by Fly High's wine club, including a 20% discount on wines, 3 wine releases per year, no fee to join, and exclusive invites to wine club events.

Fly High, in conjunction with its partner and neighbor-in-wine, LongSword Vineyards, are known for their fruit-forward wines made by their winemaker Matt, who comes to winemaking with a Master's degree in biochemistry and 25 years of analytical chemistry experience. Hence why the challenge of growing and harvesting a Viognier grape was a welcome to the winemaker, who has described the '09 Viognier like Audrey Hepburn in that it's sophisticated, subtle, and complex, while the '10 Viognier is more like Marilyn Monroe in that it's full-bodied and bold. With the immense popularity of the Viognier with wine club members and travelers along the Applegate Valley Wine Trail, Fly High is eagerly anticipating this month's harvest and bottling of the 2011 Viognier grapes. "I've tasted it in its various stages straight off the vine," says Sandra King, Fly High's Owner and Financial Coordinator, "and I just can't wait to have it in the bottle."

When tasting the Windsock White Viognier, Sandra notes that, "You really do get a bold sense of what the Viognier grape truly tastes like-it's not masked." Taster's initial reactions denote a citrus overtone to the wine, followed by very flamboyant fruit smells, particularly a bold peach aroma that manifested in the '10 vintage. In fact, the '09 vintage of their Windsock White won a bronze medal plus four separate silver medals at prestigious wine competitions like Oregon's World of Wine Festival and the San Francisco International Wine Competition. Aged in stainless steel barrels, wine competition judges soon learned that this white wine will knock your windsocks off.

As a matter of fact, the name Windsock White is attributed to the fact that, in 1993 when Sandra and her late-husband David were scoping out the property by plane (David was an avid pilot), David saw runway space and Sandra saw growing space, and they were convinced that this was the right property for them. David's landing strip has always had the same red-and-white windsock, which, according the Viognier label, "always seems to know which way the wind is blowing." The art featured in the Viognier label is hand-drawn by Sandra's granddaughter, Jamie Sandhurst, who is a graduate of the prestigious St. Paul, Minnesota College of Visual Arts, and is now local to the Rogue Valley as both an artist and as Fly High's Marketer and Designer.

The temperature of Fly High's Applegate Valley basin is suited to Viognier grapes, which prefer a warmer climate. In addition, the Viognier grapes have also flourished due to the use of organic (though uncertified) practices that use hands-on methods to keep the grapes and the vineyard healthy year-round. Fly High's 100-acre farm accommodates 18 acres of grapes, including some rare varietals like Syrah, Marsanne, Tempranillo, and of course, Viognier. With well-established Viognier grapes plante