The Viognier is a white varietal that has originated from the north of the Ctes du Rhne region of France around the town of Vienne. In 1980, The Australian vintner Peter Wall, owner of the Yalumba winery in the Barossa Valley while visitingFrance, discovered this varietal which only grew on 8 ha. of land.
He took some plants back home and on 1.2 ha of his land around the winery experimented with the varietal for 10 years; Today 29 ha of Viognier grapes reachhis winery coming from different parts of the country and 1000 ha of Viognier are today planted in all of Australia, making it the largest producer of the Southern Hemisphere.
This varietal is particularly difficult to work with, since thegrapes on the vine behave unpredictably, being one day indifferent to the taste, and the following day, bursting with perfumes of apricot, citrus, spice, musk lychees and peaches;
It has the capacity of aging in certain cases, and matures well in old oak barrels, but with poor results when using new oak ones. Aging in oaks allow the wine to acquire a solid mouthful, that under the right circumstances can rival some excellent Rieslings or Chardonnays. It carries a 13.5 per cent alcohol level and should be served at 10 degrees Celsius.
I have paired this wine with chicken breasts sauted, served with a cream and mustard sauce with mushrooms taking 10 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to cook.
4 servings require:
4 chicken breasts
1 tablespoon of canola oil
1 chopped onion
200 gr of sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon of chicken concentrate
200 ml of cream 15 per cent
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons of hot mustard powder diluted into water to make a paste
Acouple of pinches of corn starch diluted in 1/4 of a glass of cold water
Chopped chives.
Pour the oil into a skillet using hot to medium heat, cook the chicken breasts 4 minutes on each side.
Remove and keep warm
Add the onion and the mushrooms, reduce the heat and soften the mix for 3 minutes.
Pour into the skillet the cream, seasoning, the chicken concentrate and the mustard
Mix and reduce while adding the corn starch.
Adjust the seasoning
Pour over the chicken breasts and serve with fresh noodles.
