2015 Viognier, Salem Ranch, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County
We harvested the grapes on August 24, at 24.4° Brix, pH 3.57 and 6.6 g/L titratable acidity. The grapes were gently pressed and the wine fermented slowly in stainless steel. The finished wine is crisp and dry, with 13.2% alcohol, pH 3.42 and 5.87 g/L titratable acidity. We bottled 95 cases.
Tasting Notes
The beautifully balanced wine is medium-bodied. The aromas dance and weave throughout the long finish.
Wine Enthuiast lauds the “waxy element to its texture, highlighted in fennel and grass. Fresh and high in acidity, it’s flinty on the finish.”
Specs
Vintage: 2015
Appellation: Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County
Harvest Date: August 24
pH: 3.42
Total Acidity: 5.87 g/L
Alcohol: 13.2%
Cases Produced: 95
2017 Viognier, Salem Ranch, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County
The 2017 People’s Viognier is 100% Viognier from the CWSA-certified sustainably farmed Salem Ranch in Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley.
Tasting Notes
It is hauntingly perfumed, with delicate and subtle notes of jasmine, white peach, apricot, and sweet almond. The beautifully balanced wine is medium-bodied. The aromas dance and weave throughout the long finish.
Specs
Vintage: 2017
Harvest Date: September 6
pH: 3.57
Total Acidity: 5.55 g/L
Included in the Box
4-bottles:
2x 2015 Viognier, Salem Ranch, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County
2x 2017 Viognier, Salem Ranch, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County
Case:
6x 2015 Viognier, Salem Ranch, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County
6x 2017 Viognier, Salem Ranch, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County
Price Comparison
Not sold online, $216.00/case MSRP for 2015 vintage
About The Winery
Winery: People’s Wine Revolution
Founder: Matt Reid and Marcy Webb
Founded: 2009
Location: Calistoga, CA
Husband and wife team Matt Reid and Marcy Webb conceived The People’s Wine Revolution to bring great wines to all at reasonable prices. Our goal is to make wines every bit as good as those we made for our day jobs, but at a fraction of the price. PWR is now our full-time pursuit.
Matt completed the UC-Davis Viticulture & Enology M.S. program in 2003. He has been the winemaker at Seavey Vineyard and Quixote Winery, and the Custom Crush Winemaker at Failla Wines. He is currently winemaker for Benessere Vineyards and Consulting Winemaker for Burgess Cellars.
Marcy’s background is public health (epidemiology), but her quick, scientific mind has led to positions at The Napa Wine Company, Franciscan and Chalk Hill. She is the assistant winemaker for Ballentine Vineyards.
Good morning mates,
I was presently surprised to get an email so soon again. Perhaps because my last rattage seemed corked. I will say I was slightly panicked that this offering would make it to me the day before the sale. I know some of you have talked about bottle shock before and I wanted to give these bottles a chance to calm down.
I was very happy to see them arrive at 10:15 Thursday morning. Right into the fridge to chill, and to get them out of my lab as today was also safety inspections (no food or drinks in the lab!)
I enlisted some colleagues to help with these as I have been identified by my FedEx guy, and others as being the one who gets adult beverage deliveries.
So to celebrate not blowing up the lab, or pissing off the safety people cheers!
Today’s offering both come from PWR 2015 and 2017 Viognier. It is always fun to see how flavor profiles change in different years. People’s Wine Revolution Viognier 2015
After chilling for about 5 hours we dove into our happy hour. Light straw color, slightly sweet nose. Donut peach/ apricot/leeche (stone fruits), bright spring flowers, and sawdust.
It has cream/buttery feel on the tongue strong, but not overpowering acidity. Salty/mineral, slight pucker bright color fruits as above hints of citrus. More on the dry side.
Hardy white fish, flounder? Spicy Thai food, cheese.
People’s Wine Revolution Viognier 2017 for me is a different animal. Light straw color, flat/ dry on the nose. Not much fruit but mineral/salty/chalky. Much less acidity, more sweetness. Mango, lemon, clove on the palate
This one could be a Baltimore stoop drinker.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2015/2017 People’s Wine Revolution Viognier - $34 = 23.60%
Hey there, everyone! Great to be back. I look forward to engaging with everyone, and feel free to hit me with any questions, opinions, conspiracy theories…whatever you want, I am here for you.
But not for much longer tonight. Got to get the 10-year-old to bed, and did I mention her Circus Camp performance is tomorrow at 2? It will be amazing, but I won’t be online for it. So if I am away for a spell, please forgive me. I’ll be back!
@PWRWines were there any significant differences between weather for these vintages, or oak treatment? Wondering what to think about as I compare them when they arrive
@CruelMelody Really the only significant difference is the vintage. Neither wine saw any oak. Both were harvested at comparable Brix. 2015, though, was the most intense of our drought years, while the spring of 2017 dumped buckets (hooray!). So probably the most significant differences in the wines owe to vine water status.
Cliffnotes: I was surprised how much we enjoyed this 2017 Viognier. It is not a typical example.
Long notes: When we drink whites, it is usually a Pinot Blanc or a Rose, like Pedroncelli. We prefer reds( our favorites here being the Cinsault, WineSmith Cabernet Franc,or anything Wellington). It was a beautiful day on the Oregon Coast, fog, sun, fog, sun. I knew from the kind email it was a white, so we refrigerated it right away. When I got home, I had to play frisbee with our border collie and soccer with our 5 month old smooth coated collie. When I was done playing, I needed a refreshing drink. Of course, I choose the PNR Viognier to quench my thirst before dinner. It was unexpected. My husbands first thought was it look liked apple cider and he said the first taste was like eating an juicy apple. I have to agree with him. The smell was like a Granny Smith apple and the first taste, without food, was like the Granny Smith apple. It was refreshing. For dinner, we had leftover BBQ pork ribs that I took off the bones, sautéed over a Caesar salad with Parmesan Regianno cheese. I have to say the wine went perfectly with the cheesy/porky/creamy dinner combination.The tartness went away with the dinner and brought out vanilla/almond notes. This wine surprisingly lingers on the palate. After dinner, the taste changed to a little licorice/cantaloupe and grilled lemon. The nose did not linger. I did not read the winery write up as I wanted to be unbiased for this rat report. I took a picture but it will not load. I will try and upload in a separate thought. Thank you very much for the amazing opportunity! As the cliff notes said above, we are typically not a Viognier family( our last Viognier was Stillman Brown’s, which was more typical in the apricot/stone fruit profile), but we really enjoyed this.
Hey @winedavid49 this is an incredible find. A winery who says “Our goal is to make wines every bit as good as those we made for our day jobs, but at a fraction of the price” encapsulates the very essence of Casemates. It is going to be very hard to fight the SIWBM on a $9 Viognier with ‘Donut peach/ apricot/leeche (stone fruits), bright spring flowers, and sawdust’, as per @jml326 above.
Slurp! Myself and coworker performing a very quick taste out of Casemates stemless glasses. Wine was picked up from FedEx this morning and put in the fridge, so it’s probably a little too cold on the outset.
Also no food on this tasting. Tonight i’ll revisit with something.
Not much color here. Light straw? Kinda blends in with condensation on the glass.
Smell: Very light as well but toward the apricot / melon area. I also feel pink flowers.
Taste: I certainly get some tropical fruit, pineapple, mango. It’s quite tart in the back of the mouth with a pretty long finish. A little bit of alcohol starting to peek out while the wine warms. Easy drinking.
Overall feeling: porch sipper with a crisp, refreshing feel. A little bit to ponder, but mostly a nice easy drinking white. I like! And so does the tasting partner.
Wife and I finished the bottle with some roasted cauliflower tacos with a mango nectarine salsa.
The few hours between opening and consuming didn’t do anything to the taste of nose. Still quite closed at refrigerator temp and more of the tropical notes at room temp.
It worked really well with the fruit salsa, brining out the hint of sweetness in the wine. The wife was surprised at how light it was with no alcohol smell or mouthfeel. She did remark that it was “coating” but not in a buttery way.
Her guess was $25 and thought both of these prices were fantastic.
Thanks again for the opportunity to review and this was really something I enjoyed drinking!
We are back from the circus! The kids did a great job. Amazing work on teeterboard, aerials (hoops and silks), juggling, clowning, magic. Hard to believe they put the show together in a week. Very impressive.
@radiolysis Good question! Although I think the better question is why we went with the Burgundy bottle for the earlier vintages. We are using the lightest, smallest bottle we can find to minimize the eco-impact of our wines, especially when shipping. And now all of our bottles are the same shape!
Oh sorry about that giphy, never know what it will pull up. hope y’all haven’t been drinking too much wine before looking at that. Man, maybe I should re-edit it to avoid outrage. Nah… you guys can deal with it…
2015 Viognier, Salem Ranch, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County
We harvested the grapes on August 24, at 24.4° Brix, pH 3.57 and 6.6 g/L titratable acidity. The grapes were gently pressed and the wine fermented slowly in stainless steel. The finished wine is crisp and dry, with 13.2% alcohol, pH 3.42 and 5.87 g/L titratable acidity. We bottled 95 cases.
Tasting Notes
The beautifully balanced wine is medium-bodied. The aromas dance and weave throughout the long finish.
Wine Enthuiast lauds the “waxy element to its texture, highlighted in fennel and grass. Fresh and high in acidity, it’s flinty on the finish.”
Specs
2017 Viognier, Salem Ranch, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County
The 2017 People’s Viognier is 100% Viognier from the CWSA-certified sustainably farmed Salem Ranch in Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley.
Tasting Notes
It is hauntingly perfumed, with delicate and subtle notes of jasmine, white peach, apricot, and sweet almond. The beautifully balanced wine is medium-bodied. The aromas dance and weave throughout the long finish.
Specs
Included in the Box
Price Comparison
Not sold online, $216.00/case MSRP for 2015 vintage
About The Winery
Winery: People’s Wine Revolution
Founder: Matt Reid and Marcy Webb
Founded: 2009
Location: Calistoga, CA
Husband and wife team Matt Reid and Marcy Webb conceived The People’s Wine Revolution to bring great wines to all at reasonable prices. Our goal is to make wines every bit as good as those we made for our day jobs, but at a fraction of the price. PWR is now our full-time pursuit.
Matt completed the UC-Davis Viticulture & Enology M.S. program in 2003. He has been the winemaker at Seavey Vineyard and Quixote Winery, and the Custom Crush Winemaker at Failla Wines. He is currently winemaker for Benessere Vineyards and Consulting Winemaker for Burgess Cellars.
Marcy’s background is public health (epidemiology), but her quick, scientific mind has led to positions at The Napa Wine Company, Franciscan and Chalk Hill. She is the assistant winemaker for Ballentine Vineyards.
Video:
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, RI, SC, SD, TX, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Thursday, August 8th - Monday, August 12th
People’s Wine Revolution Viognier
4 bottles for $47.99 $12/bottle + $2/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $109.99 $9.17/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
2015 People’s Wine Revolution Viognier
2017 People’s Wine Revolution Viognier
Good morning mates,
I was presently surprised to get an email so soon again. Perhaps because my last rattage seemed corked. I will say I was slightly panicked that this offering would make it to me the day before the sale. I know some of you have talked about bottle shock before and I wanted to give these bottles a chance to calm down.
I was very happy to see them arrive at 10:15 Thursday morning. Right into the fridge to chill, and to get them out of my lab as today was also safety inspections (no food or drinks in the lab!)
I enlisted some colleagues to help with these as I have been identified by my FedEx guy, and others as being the one who gets adult beverage deliveries.
So to celebrate not blowing up the lab, or pissing off the safety people cheers!
Today’s offering both come from PWR 2015 and 2017 Viognier. It is always fun to see how flavor profiles change in different years.
People’s Wine Revolution Viognier 2015
After chilling for about 5 hours we dove into our happy hour. Light straw color, slightly sweet nose. Donut peach/ apricot/leeche (stone fruits), bright spring flowers, and sawdust.
It has cream/buttery feel on the tongue strong, but not overpowering acidity. Salty/mineral, slight pucker bright color fruits as above hints of citrus. More on the dry side.
Hardy white fish, flounder? Spicy Thai food, cheese.
People’s Wine Revolution Viognier 2017 for me is a different animal. Light straw color, flat/ dry on the nose. Not much fruit but mineral/salty/chalky. Much less acidity, more sweetness. Mango, lemon, clove on the palate
This one could be a Baltimore stoop drinker.
Overall tasters preferred the 2015 7:1
@jml326
@jml326 “Donut peach/ apricot/leeche (stone fruits), bright spring flowers, and sawdust.” Dayam; 9/10, nicely done.
An additional afterthought that was shared with me. The 2017 variety was described by one of my colleagues as an uncarbonated “hard” apple cider.
/image methodical-blonde-addition
What can I say, my SIL likes Viognier so worth the shot.
He says it is the go to Thanksgiving wine.
@Cerridwyn Viognier is so the Thanksgiving wine. It goes with EVERYTHING! But it also goes with summer. Cheers!
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2015/2017 People’s Wine Revolution Viognier - $34 = 23.60%
Sounds like something I need to try.
/image rude-toasty-flea
@mommadeb be sure to add the cold pack option.
@rjquillin I did, thanks
@mommadeb @rjquillin
I thought FL got 2-day shipping by default in the summer?
@chipgreen @rjquillin not that I’m aware of. WD?
Hey there, everyone! Great to be back. I look forward to engaging with everyone, and feel free to hit me with any questions, opinions, conspiracy theories…whatever you want, I am here for you.
But not for much longer tonight. Got to get the 10-year-old to bed, and did I mention her Circus Camp performance is tomorrow at 2? It will be amazing, but I won’t be online for it. So if I am away for a spell, please forgive me. I’ll be back!
@PWRWines Thanks Matt for the additional lab and production info. Updated the specs for all to admire.
@PWRWines Matt joins in yet again with some additional lab info.
@PWRWines were there any significant differences between weather for these vintages, or oak treatment? Wondering what to think about as I compare them when they arrive
@CruelMelody Really the only significant difference is the vintage. Neither wine saw any oak. Both were harvested at comparable Brix. 2015, though, was the most intense of our drought years, while the spring of 2017 dumped buckets (hooray!). So probably the most significant differences in the wines owe to vine water status.
Cliffnotes: I was surprised how much we enjoyed this 2017 Viognier. It is not a typical example.
Long notes: When we drink whites, it is usually a Pinot Blanc or a Rose, like Pedroncelli. We prefer reds( our favorites here being the Cinsault, WineSmith Cabernet Franc,or anything Wellington). It was a beautiful day on the Oregon Coast, fog, sun, fog, sun. I knew from the kind email it was a white, so we refrigerated it right away. When I got home, I had to play frisbee with our border collie and soccer with our 5 month old smooth coated collie. When I was done playing, I needed a refreshing drink. Of course, I choose the PNR Viognier to quench my thirst before dinner. It was unexpected. My husbands first thought was it look liked apple cider and he said the first taste was like eating an juicy apple. I have to agree with him. The smell was like a Granny Smith apple and the first taste, without food, was like the Granny Smith apple. It was refreshing. For dinner, we had leftover BBQ pork ribs that I took off the bones, sautéed over a Caesar salad with Parmesan Regianno cheese. I have to say the wine went perfectly with the cheesy/porky/creamy dinner combination.The tartness went away with the dinner and brought out vanilla/almond notes. This wine surprisingly lingers on the palate. After dinner, the taste changed to a little licorice/cantaloupe and grilled lemon. The nose did not linger. I did not read the winery write up as I wanted to be unbiased for this rat report. I took a picture but it will not load. I will try and upload in a separate thought. Thank you very much for the amazing opportunity! As the cliff notes said above, we are typically not a Viognier family( our last Viognier was Stillman Brown’s, which was more typical in the apricot/stone fruit profile), but we really enjoyed this.
Hey @winedavid49 this is an incredible find. A winery who says “Our goal is to make wines every bit as good as those we made for our day jobs, but at a fraction of the price” encapsulates the very essence of Casemates. It is going to be very hard to fight the SIWBM on a $9 Viognier with ‘Donut peach/ apricot/leeche (stone fruits), bright spring flowers, and sawdust’, as per @jml326 above.
Yay! I first tried PWR at a friend’s restaurant in Napa. It’s hard to find here on the East Coast.
/giphy wasteful-clever-turkey
/giphy loathsome-delicious-pie
2015 PWR Viognier lab rat here.
Slurp! Myself and coworker performing a very quick taste out of Casemates stemless glasses. Wine was picked up from FedEx this morning and put in the fridge, so it’s probably a little too cold on the outset.
Also no food on this tasting. Tonight i’ll revisit with something.
Not much color here. Light straw? Kinda blends in with condensation on the glass.
Smell: Very light as well but toward the apricot / melon area. I also feel pink flowers.
Taste: I certainly get some tropical fruit, pineapple, mango. It’s quite tart in the back of the mouth with a pretty long finish. A little bit of alcohol starting to peek out while the wine warms. Easy drinking.
Overall feeling: porch sipper with a crisp, refreshing feel. A little bit to ponder, but mostly a nice easy drinking white. I like! And so does the tasting partner.
Shlurrrrp.
@radiolysis As promised, a follow up!
Wife and I finished the bottle with some roasted cauliflower tacos with a mango nectarine salsa.
The few hours between opening and consuming didn’t do anything to the taste of nose. Still quite closed at refrigerator temp and more of the tropical notes at room temp.
It worked really well with the fruit salsa, brining out the hint of sweetness in the wine. The wife was surprised at how light it was with no alcohol smell or mouthfeel. She did remark that it was “coating” but not in a buttery way.
Her guess was $25 and thought both of these prices were fantastic.
Thanks again for the opportunity to review and this was really something I enjoyed drinking!
Thanks for chiming in, everyone.
We are back from the circus! The kids did a great job. Amazing work on teeterboard, aerials (hoops and silks), juggling, clowning, magic. Hard to believe they put the show together in a week. Very impressive.
So… anything else I can tell you about the wine?
@PWRWines why the difference in bottle shape?
@radiolysis Good question! Although I think the better question is why we went with the Burgundy bottle for the earlier vintages. We are using the lightest, smallest bottle we can find to minimize the eco-impact of our wines, especially when shipping. And now all of our bottles are the same shape!
Sounds like yet another great light white; love the idea of pairing it with Thai like a Gewurzt, too!
/giphy barred-drab-dinner
@sdilullo I think you will be very happy with that pairing. Enjoy!
Quick question for @winedavid49 or whoever is in charge of shipping…is the ice/fast really out of stock?
/giphy famous-lagging-hound
If anybody in DFW wants to split my second case, my wife would appreciate it lol
OK sign me up!
/giphy hypnotic-candid-cupid
Oh sorry about that giphy, never know what it will pull up. hope y’all haven’t been drinking too much wine before looking at that. Man, maybe I should re-edit it to avoid outrage. Nah… you guys can deal with it…
@pmarin It’s definitely hypnotic, all right…
@InFrom You are getting sleepy
You want to buy this wine
You will click the Buy button
You will not remember this
But the wine will appear