26 Aug Please The Palate Wine of the Week: Brassfield Estate 2023 Viognier, High Valley AVA, Lake County

This past week, I traveled to Lake County to interview Jonathan Walters, VP of Winemaking and Vineyard Operations at Brassfield Estate Winery, for the Wine Soundtrack podcast. Brassfield Estate sits rather remotely in the High Valley AVA, surrounded by mountains, wildlife, vineyards, and even a volcano. After recording the podcast and touring the property, we settled in for a casual dinner with Chinese food and, of course, opened a few bottles of wine. One of those wines was the Brassfield Estate 2023 Viognier. Viognier is known for its beautiful aromatics and rich texture, but it can sometimes lack the acidity needed to keep it fresh and balanced. Not this one. With beautiful texture, vibrant acidity, and enough weight to stand up to our dinner, the Brassfield Estate 2023 Viognier is the Please The Palate Wine of the Week.

About Brassfield Estate Winery

Brassfield Estate Winery traces its beginnings to 1973 when businessman Jerry Brassfield purchased 1,520 acres known as High Serenity Ranch in Clearlake Oaks. Originally a cattle ranch and family retreat, the property began its transformation into a wine estate in the late 1990s after Brassfield studied the area’s weather patterns and soils to determine which grape varieties would thrive there. The first vines were planted in 2001, and over the years Brassfield continued acquiring neighboring land and developing vineyards. Today, the estate encompasses approximately 4,747 acres, with only about 500 acres planted to vines. The remaining land is largely left to the wildlife and natural vegetation that surround the vineyards. Driving around the property, it is not unusual to see deer and wild turkeys.

Brassfield is also the only brick-and-mortar winery within the High Valley AVA. Established in 2005, the appellation is distinguished by two important features: elevation and its unusual transverse orientation. Unlike many California valleys that run north to south, High Valley runs east to west, allowing cooler air to funnel into the valley and helping create significant temperature shifts between day and night. The valley floor sits at approximately 1,800 feet, while vineyards climb to nearly 3,000 feet.

Adding another dimension to the landscape is Round Mountain Volcano. Brassfield’s Volcano Ridge Vineyard sits adjacent to it, one of several vineyard sites spread across the estate’s varied elevations, exposures, and soils. With 17 grape varieties planted across these different sites, the estate has the opportunity to match each variety to a particular microclimate.

Tasting Notes

Viognier is an intensely aromatic grape, typically offering ripe stone fruit and floral notes. But the grape naturally has relatively low acidity, which can result in wines that feel broad or heavy if that acidity is not maintained. That is what made the Brassfield Estate 2023 Viognier stand out to me.

The wine offers ripe stone fruit aromas followed by notes of apple and lemon curd. Medium-bodied with a rounded mid-palate, it has a lovely weight across the palate matched by vibrant acidity. The wine is structured and balanced with a fresh lift.

Food Pairing

Our casual dinner included an assortment of Chinese dishes, and the Viognier was particularly delicious with crispy honey shrimp and beef with broccoli. The wine had enough body and texture to match the richness of the food, while its vibrant acidity cut through the sweetness and richness of the shrimp and refreshed the palate between bites.

Where To Purchase

While Brassfield Estate Wines can be found in local wine retail stores across the country, the Brassfield Viognier is a tasting room wine. It retails for $30 and can be purchased directly from the winery website.