2020 Alban Viognier Estate

The 2020 Viognier Estate is a step up and offers a gorgeous bouquet of tangerines, exotic citrus, chalky minerality, and white flowers. More medium to full-bodied, wonderfully textured, and perfectly balanced, I don't think there's anyone in the New World doing Viognier better than John Alban. While I know this can evolve and age, I recommend drinking bottles over the coming 3-5 years. It’s clear that Alban has another truly special vintage on their hands with these 2018s, and these might be the finest wines I’ve tasted from this estate. Reminding me slightly of the 2016s, these aren’t massive, over-the-top wines, and they excel every bit as much for their purity, balance, and elegance as they do for their richness and texture. The 2019s also showed well, and those will be reviewed from bottle next year. As I hope these reviews show, I don’t think anyone is doing Rhône varieties better.