The Crusher Viognier 2007

The Crusher is a new line of wines produced by the Don Sabastiani & Sons winery located in Sonoma, CA. However, the grapes were harvested from the Wilson Vineyards in Clarksburg (the Sacramento Delta). This is a relatively unknown wine region that keeps putting out good wines and should start getting more press. The fourth generation family-run winery was voted American Winery of the Year in 2005 by Wine Enthusiast Magazine and is probably best known for their Smoking Loon line of wines. This past Friday night we opened a bottle from the first release of The Crusher 2007 Viognier and was surprised by the plastic cork. Interesting!! The wine has a straw yellow color with floral aromas along with bananas, apricots and a touch of honey. On the palate, it is a medium bodied rather dry wine starting off with some sweet peaches followed by vanilla and ending with the bitterness of a granny smith apple, my oldest son's favorite apple. This must be paired with food as the alcohol content is 14.9%. Could pair with Asian inspired dishes, per the winemaker, or my favorite a French triple cream cheese. Overall, we both enjoyed this wine which retails for about $15.