Staff Pick

The Chook Shiraz Viognier - 2020

Name: The Chook Shiraz Viognier
Brand: Black Chook
SKU: 19312
Price: 21.96 USD
Availability: InStock

Item # 19312 750mL

McLaren Vale has an unrivaled reputation in Australia, and indeed the world, for growing full-flavored Shiraz. This wine is made using a method perfected in France's Côte-Rôtie: the winemaker adds a little Viognier to the fermenting Shiraz, which results in a deep and stunning expression.

$21.96/ Single Bottle

$263.52 $237.17/ Case of 12

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Color

Red

Vintage

2020

Country

Australia

Region

South Australia

Sub-Region

McLaren Vale

Producer

Black Chook

Grape Variety

Shiraz

Viognier

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Staff Pick Notes

There are some nights where nothing but a big bold juicy red will do. Enter The Chook, Shiraz Viognier! . It gets its grapes from premium locations in McLaren Vale and Padthaway in South Australia. It delivers all the power but still manages to remain balanced due in part to the Northern Rhone tradition of adding a touch of Viognier. It adds beautiful aromatics and tempers some of the wines boldness. I paired it with beef short rib chili on a chilly night and it was perfection!

- HW

Pairing Advice

Using an ancient technique developed on the "roasted slope" of the Côte-Rôtie, the winemaker has added a bit of Viognier (6%) to lighten up this Shiraz. The resulting wine is great with anything off the barbie: burgers, ribs, steaks, etc. Because Shiraz has a flavor profile that can tend toward sweetness, this wine even works with sweet glazes and barbecue sauces.

Glossary

Shiraz

We'd like to clear this up once and for all: the Shiraz grape is genetically identical to Syrah. Australian winemakers put "Shiraz" on the map (and, many would argue, vice versa), and the term is now used throughout much of the New World. Let it never be said, however, that Shiraz and Syrah are the same thing: the region in which the grape is grown determines much about the flavor of the wine it will produce. Typically, New World Shiraz yields bigger, fruitier wines than the the peppery Syrahs...

Viognier

Some of the most intriguing wines associated with the white Viognier grape contain hardly any Viognier at all: in the Côte Rôtie appellation, wine must be made principally from the red Syrah grape, but up to 20 percent (often far less) can be of white Viognier. The practice of adding Viognier to Syrah began as a way of taming the very ripe, tannic reds of the hot Côte Rôtie ("roasted slope"), but it produced such incredible results that other countries, most notably Australia, have followed...

Australia

Australian Shiraz (made from the grape called “Syrah” in other parts of the world) shows the essence of the outback: it’s big, bold, and a little rough around the edges. The vast country leaves lots of room for variation, however, with its many terroirs each yielding distinctively styled wines. The climate of South Australia’s McLaren Vale district is heavily influenced by the ocean; wines here typically show savory notes of olive and spice on the nose and deep berry flavors on the palate....

McLaren Vale

While the Barossa is the heart of the Australian wine industry and home to many of the big players, one has only to spend an hour traveling to the South Australia's McLaren Vale to find the home of some of the smaller players on the scene. With a microclimate heavily influenced by its proximity to the ocean and varied soils rich in iron or limestone, McLaren Vale Shiraz tends to exhibit more savory notes on the nose, adding olives and spice notes to its dark berry fruits (which take on...

South Australia

South Australia is home to nearly half the country's wine production as well as the center of premium Shiraz production. It contains the Clare Valley, Barossa Valley, Eden Valley, Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale, Padthaway, and Coonawarra regions.

Check out our Glossary