Balance is the key to this wine. Viognier is an aromatic and generous varietal, it benefits from barrel maturation and lees contact with a fuller mouth feel and increased texture. This combined with the firm acid backbone and intense fruit will allow this wine to integrate beautifully and gain further complexity over the next 3-5 years.
This expressive viognier, grown on rose-quartz soil, seduces you with the beautiful perfume of honeysuckle and orange blossom and a textured palate of apricot, kiwi and pineapple. A sensual and exotic experience. Barrel fermented and aged. Enjoy it now or allow it to gain complexity with further cellaring.
Lighter styles are often paired with curries and the like. This Viognier is different. We recommend medium bodied meals that are intense and complex. For example:
- Sesame encrusted tuna marinated in a blend of orange, lemon and lime juice spiced with sesame oil and balsamic vinegar – seared on a wood fired grill and served with griddled vegetables, or
- Free range duck breast smoked with Darjeeling tea and coriander leaves. Set on a cinnamon poached pear glazed with a gooseberry jus.
In both of these dishes, the fruit and floral aspects of the wine are complimented by the exotic and aromatic elements in the dish which are also highlighted by the spiciness from the oak fermentation; the fresh acidity freshens the palate, and yet the Lismore Viognier has the body to hold up against the weight of the duck or the tuna. It is also gorgeous with a well laid cheese platter.
"The 2021 Viognier The Age of Grace comes from Sutherland and Bot River, whole bunch pressed with 11 months on the lees using 15% concrete eggs. With pretty white peach and Mirabelle scents on the nose, this takes time to blossom, but it never fully lets go. The palate is medium-bodied with a gorgeous dried apricot, mango and spicebox entry, nothing blowsy here with a very focused, almost understated finish. Excellent. - Neal Martin"
- Antonio Galloni's Vinous (September 2022), 93+ pts
Tucked into the foothills of a dramatic mountain range at the bottom of Africa is Lismore Estate Vineyards. It is here, in the Greyton area, that Californian Samantha O'Keefe found ...
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"Sam O'Keefe gets the grapes for this stylish, commercially significant Viognier from Elgin and Bot River, rather than her home base in Greyton. Fermented in 5% new barrels and concrete eggs, it's a suitably graceful, subtle Viognier, with aniseed, pear and apricot skin flavours and tangy supporting acidity. 2022-27"
"Aromas of peaches and apricots with lemon pith, white flowers and raw almond. Full-bodied with waxy texture, round mouth feel and toned, crunchy stone fruit character. Vivid acidity and flavorful, lingering finish. Drink now."
"An expressive white, with pretty honeysuckle, acacia blossom and ground ginger notes serving as fragrant accents to plum tart, glazed tangerine and graham cracker flavors. On the finish, tangy salinity and citrus peel acidity provide fine definition and a crackling quality. Drink now through 2028. - AN "
"With its cool southern exposure at the foot of the Riviersonderend Mountains, Samantha O’Keefe’s vineyard produces a quiet yet powerful viognier. It’s rich and waxy, the bright citrus-oil flavors supported by the oak structure."
"Bottled but not yet labeled, the 2017 Age of Grace Viognier is made with Elgin fruit grown on rose quartz soil. Although made oxidatively, it’s very floral in character with notes of jasmine and honeysuckle. Samantha attributes this in part to natural ferment and the partial use of polyurethane egg, which contributes an extreme florality. It’s a lovely wine with bright, dense tropical and stone fruit on a full, creamy palate and showing good minerality on the finish."
"I review very few bottlings of Viognier for the good reason that very few of them merit mention…much less praise. The flashy, floral ones are often alcoholic and tiring to drink, with insufficient acidity, whereas the fresh ones often lack the aromatics that make Viognier worth considering in the first place. Renditions from Condrieu (in France’s northern Rhône) that dodge these two problems are almost always painfully expensive, and though that makes sense because the region is tiny and horribly difficult to farm, I still can’t see shelling out $70 for them. Which brings me to this wine--admittedly by a circuitous route--which I took because it is such a brilliant exception to the rule. It shows floral topnotes that are lovely but also subtle (which is good, because overly perfumed wines almost never invite a second glass), as well as delicious peachy fruit enlivened with excellent acidity. It seems that the secret to success in this case was two separate pickings…an early one for acidity, and a second to pick up the florals, which only emerge at full ripeness. Probably tough to find, but even harder to resist after experiencing it."
"Fruit bought from Elgin, rose-quartz soils, to try to increase production of the estate Viognier but it was so distinctive that she bottled it separately. Inoculated because of some later picked fruit which does not easily go to dryness. 
