Benvenuto de la Serna Mil Piedras Viognier 2010 made with estate-grown fruit from a single vineyard located in the Valle de Uco at 1100m above sea level in a semi desert climate, long sun hours and little rainfall. Benvenuto de la Serna is a small family winery owned by Silvio Benvenuto who is an Italian immigrant and the winemaker is Angel Mendoza who was at Trapiche for 20+ years. The wine is made from 100% Viognier and has not seen oak, fermented in Stainless steel before bottling.
Floral honeysuckle aromas overlaid with tropical notes including lychee and apricot are echoed on the palate after a definite carbon dioxide 'spritz', this reduced after a few minutes, but felt uncomfortable initially. The alcohol was medium but out of kilter with the wine, Viognier can have a flabbiness to it, but this felt in the wrong place for the wine. The alcohol was as expected, quite high in alcohol and low in acidity but well integrated and the silky texture was pleasant. The wine lacked real fruit promised by the aromas so was a let down, feint flavours of lemon, apricot and grapefruit pith bitterness butlinear in nature, left one wanting more. This is a shame because I often feel that Viognier packs a real punch of aromatics that follow through to the palate, but this had been reined in far too much - a pity!
Score : 75
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