Pair It Up! Viognier and…Nothing?

My wife and I are in the process of selling our apartment. If you’ve been through the process, you know that you kind of half-live over a time like this; almost as if you’re squatting in someone else’s place, always expecting them to return with hardly any warning. At any given point, you may have as little as a couple hours’ notice of a pending visit where you’ll have to scramble to vacate the premises and leave it looking tip-top as if no one’s been there for months.

Stay with me; I’m getting to the food-and-wine-pairing part – I promise.

So, have we “staged” our place for prospective buyers? Well, we’ve only staged as much as that it’s clean, vacuumed and showy enough the vast majority of the time. In comparison to its regular empty-popcorn-bowl-on-the-table, random-socks-on-the floor and “We probably don’t need nine pairs of shoes sitting by our front door,” condition we seem to be (oddly) comfortable with.

One of the elements we’ve added is having a couple nice-looking, untouched wine bottles on our kitchen counter, sitting pretty. (In our regular life, those bottles would be nearly exhausted.) A bottle we’ve had as part of our staging (ugh) through the last couple open houses and appointments is Laughing Stock Vineyards’ 2014 Viognier from British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. Something about the bottle just looks so darn sharp against the white tile behind it, but that’s also made it a bottle which has been in the corner of my eye for a week now.

After a long hectic day, I decided we could find something else that would look just as great for future walk-throughs, and tonight was the night to try it - it had been tempting me for too long! I can say without a hint of hesitation that it was DELICIOUS. (I say “was,” but there’s still a good glass or two left in the bottle, but we’re draining it with gusto as I type this…)

Now here’s the thing, by the time I’d cracked it, my wife and I had both finished our dinner. Pairing this wine with food tonight is not going to happen! Now, there are many wines out there where you really need food to ‘get it,' such as big, tannic reds with grilled meats - that sort of thing. While there are a myriad of food possibilities that would serve this wine well, I’m confident in saying that this wine is So Damn Good on its own.

Aromatics of brûléed orange are served up with a good dose of marzipan - that latter part offered by the 40 per cent French oak employed in its coming-of-age. On the palate, grilled pineapple, along with peaches and honey all sail through a rich and opulent finish that seems like it could go on for days. It’s perfectly ripe, but the key Okanagan Valley natural acidity keeps it buoyant and fresh. If you don’t like a Viognier too lean or shy, you’ll love it for all of its charisma and great structure. If you dislike the heavy, cloying side of Viognier, you’ll enjoy it all the same for its easygoing affability.

If you’re looking to have a little food with it, and you totally should, think of anything you’d enjoy a hearty stone-fruit compote with; chicken dishes, duck breast, even sharp cheddars. This Macadamia Chicken with Orange-Ginger Sauce and Coconut Pilaf from Sunset would certainly come up a treat.

But sometimes, not always, you’ll get the (wonderful) gist of a wine simply from the glass itself. This is one of those wines. With a few clicks starting right here, it can be on your doorstep in days.

Kurtis Kolt is a Vancouver-based wine consultant, writer, competition judge and enthusiast. Track him down at KurtisKolt.com, or on Twitter and Instagram @KurtisKolt