USCA Sonnet 99, Then & Now
The story of USCA Winery began some 15 years ago when a group of friends, fascinated by the world of wine, decided to open their own winery. Leaving behind their “city” lives and careers they moved to the Izmir district of Urla and in 2003 established their vineyards. When the winery was ready to start producing its wine the owners were stuck for names for them. One of the owners happened to be reading a book of Shakespeare’s sonnets. They hit on the idea of naming the wines after sonnets that somehow reflected the wine in the bottle.
Sonnet 99
The forward violet thus did I chide:
Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,
If not from my love’s breath? The purple pride
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells
In my love’s veins thou hast too grossly dy’d.
The lily I condemned for thy hand,
And buds of marjoram had stol’n thy hair;
The roses fearfully on thorns did stand,
One blushing shame, another white despair;
A third, nor red nor white, had stol’n of both,
And to his robbery had annexed thy breath;
But, for his theft, in pride of all his growth
A vengeful canker eat him up to death.
More flowers I noted, yet I none could see,
But sweet, or colour it had stol’n from thee.
USCA Sonnet 99 Chardonnay Viognier, 2018
The wine spent about 10 months in French oak before blending and bottling. In the glass it showed a warm straw color with heavy acacia flowers and fruit in the noise along with rich vanilla. Ripe pear and golden apple burst on the palate joining the vanilla. Honeyed and floral notes lingered on a medium finish.
Round and creamy in the mouth with nice acidity that kept it from feeling too heavy. Moderate alcohol at 13% contributed to the overall medium body.
The first time (and second and third!) that I had Sonnet 99 is was a Chardonnay Viognier blend. That has since changed. USCA bottled the 2019 vintage Sonnet 99 as a single varietal Viognier. I do find it interesting to compare the two though.
USCA Sonnet 99 Viognier, 2019
For whatever reason USCA decided to make the 2019 a varietal Viognier, I am glad for it! Personally, I preferred this much more and as I generally like Viognier I was happy to have another on the market. It also pleased me to see a little less oak on this with just seven months ageing.
The wine poured a deep lemon with aromas as rich as the color. Clouds of citrus, violet, peach, and vanilla cream rose from the glass with each swirl. Succulent tropical fruits joined ripe, summer peaches, vanilla, and hazelnut and each sip sang with vibrant acidity. I felt a touch of Viognier’s signature oiliness on the palate which, combined with 13.5% abv gave the wine a solid medium body.