Freddy R. Troya

9.0

Halos de Jupiter Viognier, 2024 — Pays du Gard IGP, France 🇫🇷

Overview
100% Viognier showing a fresher, lighter Southern France expression. Generous stone-fruit aromatics with bright citrus lift and floral nuance, delivering charm and approachability rather than the typical heavy, oily, bomb-style Viognier profile.

Aromas & Flavors
Apricot, ripe peach, nectarine, tangerine zest, orange blossom, yellow flowers, subtle honeysuckle.

Mouthfeel
Medium-bodied but lively. Clean, refreshing acidity with a gentle roundness and soft texture. Uplifting and easygoing with a crisp, fruit-driven finish.

Food Pairings
Grilled shrimp, lemon chicken, Moroccan spices, goat cheese salads, sushi rolls, light creamy pastas.

Verdict
A bright, casual Viognier that keeps the varietal’s charm while skipping the heaviness. Aromatic, cheerful, and dangerously drinkable — perfect for relaxed evenings or sunny afternoons.

🍷 Personal Pick
I love this style: all the apricot-peach personality without the weight. Fresh, floral, and uplifting, a “pour another glass” kind of white.

Did You Know?
Viognier from cooler or coastal Mediterranean zones like the Gard often shows higher acidity and lighter texture compared to the richer, oilier styles from Condrieu. — 5 months ago

David Stein

9.4

Amazing. Even with skipping the bacon it was drinking very well. — 5 years ago

with Bruce

David S

9.0

Great complex juicy wine. Summery. LJ: “skipping kid trips on asphalt, skins knee, spills raspberry sorbet — 6 years ago

Greg Helmer

9.2

From the case we brought home from 2016 vacation. Since we’re skipping Europe during the Pandemic, we’re reliving a vacation from a glass. Fine light aroma bright citrus forward and finishes smooth and sophisticated. Definitely going back to Portugal again when this is over. — 6 years ago

Ellen Clifford

9.4

This is spectacular. This receives my highest accolades. Not just for being a good Viognier but for being a spectacular wine all over. Melons and grass and white peach sprinkled with dreamy flowers. This has heft at the same moment as making me feel light and happy and conjuring visions of skipping through dewy lawns. Power and a svelte physique. As I‘d aspire for but drinking this wine is a grand facsimile. — 7 years ago

Matthew Cohen

9.4

Plummy with some spice. Maybe some faint blueberries. Very mouth coating. Deep with licorice on the finish. Not sure I would guess Syrah blind. More like a dark pinot. Not huge acid but sparkly on the palate.

That’s the great thing about Ziereisen. He makes some of his wines from foreign grapes and they taste great but unlike anything you’ve had.

I thought that this was corked but the aromatics are fine after 45 minutes. So if you smell some mist it’s not corked. Chill out and it will blow off. Nose has some lovely spice.

Bought from Fass selections.

.... ok as this opens more it’s getting whack. Internal aromatics are explosive. Deep dense plums. Intense spice that literally cluster bomb all over your palate. Wow. A German just outsyrahed 95% of the Rhône. I may just bail on life and live next to Hanspeter. All hail hanspeter. — 7 years ago

with Lyle

Elizabeth Vecseri

9.0

Quite tart and smooth. Not as heavy as a usual Chardonnay, almost like it’s skipping (happy). Very lemony and bright. A hint of peppery spice at the end. Definitely not oaky. — 3 years ago

Jay Kline

9.3

Over the last 10 years or so, I’ve sort of avoided the wines from Priorat. Not for any ideological reasons, more so I simply found the wines too often over the top for my palate. However, after years of skipping offers, I bit the bullet a couple years ago and swooped up a couple bottles of Laurel which is a wine made by Clos i Terrasses (most famously known for Clos Erasmus). I’m so glad I did. What I discovered was a wine of tremendous character and beauty.

The 2019 version of this wine is no different. It pours an almost magenta red ruby with a translucent core and moderate staining of the tears. On the nose, raspberries, plums, purple flowers, dried herbs, organic soil, limestone. There’s abundant fruit but it comes across super fresh, not jammy. There is also the faintest whiff of pyrazines. On the palate, the wine is dry, medium bodied and confirming the complex fruit set and non-fruit characteristics. Medium+ tannin and medium+ acid. Such a fresh, youthful and gorgeous wine. For those that are wondering, Laurel is aged in a combination of neutral oak, concrete egg and amphora. — 4 years ago

Cindy Glennon

9.5

Great summertime light white from Greenvale Vineyard, Newport, RI. Definitely will buy again. — 5 years ago

Ross Chernin

9.3

Pale cherry color, slightly turbid and a tawny rim. A 53 year old wine from 1967 for my father's 67th birthday who was born in 1953.

Having with veal parm.

Super delicate, earthy and hay bail on the nose. Just a slight note of dark cherry on the nose. Topsoil, underripe bitter cranberry.

Light, velvety and super soft tannins. Earthy, compost, preserved dark cherry jam with balsamic. Reminds my mother of a dairy barn. — 6 years ago

jesus g

Hospitality Schramsberg Vineyards

10

This vertical was Spott on... lol
All textbook Cabernets (Bordeaux blends) operating at a very high level. The wines appropriately represented their region, as well as their vintage. It was like worlds sharpest conductor instructing his/her orchestra never skipping a beat. The 12 Spottswoode was soft, juicy and deliciously ripe. The 13 Continuum a bit dry with firm tannin and a commanding presence at the dinner table. The 14 J. Davies- Jamie was calm, collected and fragile with silky integrated tannins, and long uplifting finish. And of course two grilled 16 ounce bone in ribeyes with a classic hollandaise sauce and baked potato. — 7 years ago

Kartiga Thavaraj

10

Skipping STONE — 7 years ago

Gregory Fulchiero

9.4

Super fat and rich. Loaded with butter notes and well balanced oak. A Limestone vein throughout keeps it interesting. Skipping the chenin the next time drawn butter is on the menu — 8 years ago

with David

Jason Muniz

9.2

Good wine without skipping school — 3 years ago

Brenda Terzich-Garland

9.4

See previous notes from about a year ago. Enjoying this visually bright light straw bail color. Chardonnay from Burgundy. Taste is an oily chalky feel on the palate. Peach, lemon-lime and apple are dominant fruits with a mineral dry coconut med dry finish finish. Yummy! Enjoying on a beautiful silhouette night in Napa. — 3 years ago

with Leslie, Karin and 1 other

Christian Fischer

9.0

Nice fruity and refreshing. Citrusy. With friends and colleagues, just the boss is skipping it ;) — 5 years ago

Norman

9.8

Seriously this good once it opens up. I had a Father’s Day cocktail bar the restaurant but had to bail on it after tasting this. — 5 years ago

with Nicholas

Ellen Clifford

9.1

There is a sweet grapefruit acid high richness. As it was with many of the Carapeços wines I kept accidentally (by which I mean on purpose) skipping the spit bucket. Too good. — 7 years ago

MaJ CappS

9.0

Wow! A great nose of those classical twigs and branch berries.

This continues on into the palette with some ripe strawberry and herb. Tinges of that Cali fruit full and bold in the glass. The ripe fruit is very well tempered by this crafted Pinot. Tea tannins wrap this up into one of those lingering fruit finishes, skipping rope with lowquat like acidity.
Another great gift from @Les Doss
Thanks Les! — 7 years ago

Sarah Rudolph

9.0

Wild flowers, skipping stones, ricotta cheese from the farm Kitchen stores and lemon zest — 8 years ago