Like many other grape varieties, it's not easy to determine a precise birthplace for Viognier. However, we can start with some certain data: for example, it's a white grape variety mainly found in France, particularly in the Rhône Valley (especially in the northern part), where it is the star of a small but prestigious AOC Condrieu.
But probably the origins of Viognier should not be sought in France, but rather in the Balkans. This is where Marcus Aurelius Probus, emperor from 276 to 282 AD, supposedly brought the grape to France during his victorious campaigns in Gaul. Evidence of this spread can be found in Dalmatia, where a grape called vugava is still cultivated today, which is nothing but Viognier. Another theory, supported by scientific research, identifies the origins of Viognier in the Alpine arc as genetically related to two Piedmontese grape varieties, freisa and nebbiolo.
Today Viognier is a grape variety grown worldwide, cultivated on all continents, from California to South Africa, passing through Australia. In Italy, there are about 1200 hectares dedicated to this variety, mainly concentrated in central Italy, between Tuscany, Lazio, and Umbria, as well as in Sicily, Trentino, or Piedmont.
Top Viognier with the best quality-price ratio
In the following list, you will find some of the best domestic expressions of Viognier that we have reviewed in the Gambero Rosso's Vini d'Italia 2024 and Berebene 2024 guides, available on the shelves of wine shops and online stores for less than £20.
TUSCANY
Rapè 2022 is one of the wines produced by Dario Di Vaira, in addition to Bolgheri Rosso Sup.2020, which presents aromas of undergrowth, followed by mineral tones, blackberry jam, and pepper on the nose. Rich and substantial on the palate, it is persistent. Clarice 2021, with balsamic tones, has a lively, brisk, tense, and fresh sip, silky, lively, and of beautiful length.
Bauci 2021, made from Viognier grapes, offers peach and apricot notes on the nose, with mineral hints and basil, while the palate is agile and fresh, rounded, with a lively and continuous salty finish. In 2005, Francesca and Luca managed to realize their life dream of living in the countryside and making wine. They found an abandoned farmhouse and planted vineyards, in the middle of which the cellar was later built, almost entirely underground. Luca takes care of the olive trees and the vineyards of sangiovese, vermentino, cabernet franc, syrah, viognier, alicante, and bouschet; Francesca deals with promotion and commercial aspects; together they gave the wines names of mythological characters that, according to classical tradition, turn into some of the trees that grow on these hills.
Feronia 2022 is one of the wines produced by Tenuta Poggio Rosso. Purchased in 2001 by the Monelli family, the estate - named after the color of the sands that make up its soil - has undergone numerous redevelopment interventions: the recovery of the old pine forest, thinning of the woods, restoration of the manor house and old lemon house, planting the first rows of vineyards with both white and red berries: merlot, sangiovese, cabernet sauvignon, vermentino, and viognier. The new cellar was built in the ground floor rooms of the nineteenth-century villa.
Tenuta del Buonamico, founded in the early 1960s by some Turin restaurateurs, is currently owned by the Fontana family. From the Montecarlo area comes M.I.O. 2022, a Viognier in purity with citrus notes of grapefruit and mango, with vegetal hints of basil and mint. In the mouth, it shows a lively acidic backbone, good sapidity, and a prolonged and lively finish.
Isola 2022 from Fattoria Uccelliera, made from Viognier grapes, is characterized by notes of cedar, quince, and white pepper on the nose, with a soft, saline body and fresh hints of herbs on the aftertaste.
UMBRIA
Simple but of great drinkability and excellent workmanship, Etichetta Verde 2022 has tones of white fruit and wildflowers on the nose and a sapid, fresh, and very smooth palate. Madonna del Latte rises between Lake Bolsena and Orvieto. Italian soul but with a German vein in its foundation: it originates from Manuela Zardo and Hellmuth Zwecker, a couple of food journalists who, after much traveling, decided to settle in the countryside. Currently, the production is in the capable hands of Leon, son of the owners, an oenologist who lived in Germany and now resides in Umbria. The company has always worked organically. In the wines, there is a great respect for the territory, declined in a modern-classic key.
This Morami returns to the guide, a beautiful reality that can count on about 11 hectares of vineyards within the family-owned estate. Among the tasted wines, Vicis 2022 stands out for its vibrant and sapid palate.
LAZIO
Soente is one of the wines produced by the Famiglia Cotarella-Falesco winery, an example of Italian viticulture worldwide. Located in the Montecchio valley, on those hilly lands of volcanic origin where Umbria and Lazio meet. The debut took place in the 1970s with brothers Antonio and Domenico Cotarella, followed by the transition from a small family business to a successful enterprise with Renzo and Riccardo, to today's all-female leadership with cousins Dominga, Marta, and Enrica. The wines offered are modern and of remarkable aromatic precision.
Viognier 2022 Vinea Domini offers notes of Mediterranean scrub, sweet citrus, and melon on the nose, while the palate is mineral, brisk, and enveloping, pleasant and of good length. Born in 2010, Vinea Domini is the line of excellent wines from Gotto d'Oro, a historic cooperative cellar of the Castelli Romani, and today boasts 12 labels, composed of products from both native and international grape varieties.
SICILY
Caeles Viognier 2022 by Firriato is one of the wines from the prestigious Vinzia Novara and Salvatore Di Gaetano company, reinforced by Irene Di Gaetano and her husband Federico Lombardo di Monte Iato. In just a few decades, it has become a Sicilian icon of international stature for the quality of its wines and full compliance with the various reference terroirs, in the sign of organic, sustainability, and "carbon neutrality." Three elegant wine resorts, from Trapani to Etna, fully enhance a production of excellent level.
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