Dub Style No.1 Tangerine McLaren Vale Viognier 2016

Tangerine. I like it. Much better than ‘amber’, which the Orange region winemakers (laughably) thought might stick as a descriptor for orange (skin contact) white wines rather than orange. Orange vs orange. Or, more correctly, a group of Orange winemakers, railing against something that isn’t going to change, while other winemakers (let’s call them the orange Orange group) continue on making orange wines from Orange anyway.

But I’m getting carried away.

This is single vineyard McLaren Vale Viognier from the extended Inkwell stable, fermented on skins. All the Dub Style wines are worth a look IMO.

Light golden yellow with just a little haze, I couldn’t help but go looking for the smell of tangerine. Auto-suggest ahoy. Also, I expected more apricots, more wildness, more fruity pomp, but this is more citrus and lemon sherbety. Cleaner than expected. Underneath, it’s bone dry, the very lemony palate Warhead sour. There’s a lovely jasmine and orange blossom fragrance too, which counterpoints the phenolic and tart palate wonderfully.

An unusual wine of contrasts, and I know it won’t be universally liked. But I found the palate polarity intriguing and the wine ultimately rather enjoyable. Best drinking: 2016-2018. 17.7/20, 92/100. 10.3%, $25. Would I buy it? I’d go a bottle for sure.