The North Carolina loons do not smoke either, FWIW. I was going to post to ask for a suggested substitute, but I will take psycat’s info back to the wine shop tomorrow. Cheers to Friday night wine! 
I picked up two bottles of this last night. Unlike many, I had no problem finding it, and the price was $5.99/btl. Guess that’s what comes from living down the street from the world’s greatest liquor store. OTOH, they didn’t have the Michel Redde Pouilly Fume I was looking for, so you win some, you lose some.
I’ll try to get my drink on this weekend.
I created a little spreadsheet to keep track of our picks. It should be viewable by anyone here.
The line up might need some adjusting though. Also, the prices listed were really for my own reference and are what I paid for each bottle.
The Loon is chillin’ Gonna pair is up some with chicken caesar salad later this afternoon.
Made the trip into town worthwhile 
Zsofia
Very Nice
While basically both are at the same $7 price, I find the Smoking Loon Viognier to be far superior to the Oak Grove I sampled earlier this week. The Loon was much more subtle while still having a very nice round of flavors.
Sad to say I only purchased one bottle, so I can see another trip into the city being made in the very near future. This could be one of those rare whites that becomes a stable in our rack selection.
Man, I’m just not having a lot of luck with the whites we’ve been choosing.
I am not a fan of this one. The initial nose is fine, but right after the first sip comes a taste of ash and sap that I’m just not enjoying. It is almost chemical in nature. We actually opened the second bottle of it in case the first one had been strangely contaminated, but no such luck: They were both the same. Even thingnumberone didn’t like it, and she’ll drink anything! 
Is anyone else tasting these things, or is it just us?
Also. Jodi, can you add me to the sommelier list? I’ll try to come up with a white that even I like.
We tried the Pepperwood Grove 2005 last evening. It had a rather pleasant, sort of floral, scent. The flavor was more complex that I would have guessed. I did pick up the apricot from the label, and the aftertaste was nice. My daughter, who is much more of a white wine fan than I was impressed at the flavor of this wine verses the price.
For myself, I thought it refreshing, and a nice change from the reds I really like. Not too sweet, and crisp. At the price, I plan to pick up another for my wine rack.
It’s been a very busy weekend for me and I haven’t made it to either wine shop to see if they have it. I may have to call around and see who’s stocking it since my grocery stores aren’t.
If I see the Pepperwood Grove I’ll pick that up.
Yeah, sorry, you can drop me from the list.
(I was very gung-ho about this but then broke my arm and was housebound for 6 weeks. Plus no mixing painkillers and wine.)
**Dangerosa **stopped by two places looking for this one. Haskells had sold out in their “nickel” sale, and Rainbow never carried it. She picked up the Pepperwood Grove Viognier (thanks psycat90) and we tried that last night. Her capsule review was “eh, it’s a white.” I’m guessing she may have more to offer.
My thoughts – aside from “it’s a white” – are that I tasted a bit of pear (she said peach, which I tasted after she reminded me of it), and less of the astringent quality that I usually associate with whites. It’s not sweet but has some of the qualities of sweetness, if that makes any sense… kind of a smooth feeling on the palate.
I’m interested to hear if anyone gets the chance to try both this alternate and the real Smoking Loon version .
And I’ll admit that I’m looking forward to the inevitable return to full-bodied red blends. Hey, I have a new grill I need to break in!
Had that white astringent taste without food. Definately peach. The astrigent faded with food - apples would have been good had I had some, but I had cheese and dried apricots.
Wouldn’t drink it without food because I don’t like the astringent tast of whites - but it was nice with food.
The worl market is having a clearance on wine so I’m heading there after work today. I know I’m a week late getting this wine but I don’t see a new wine thread open yet so maybe I’m not too late.
I still didn’t find the Smoking Loon Viognier but I did find the Pepperwood Grove 2005 and purchased that. At the World Market the price was $5.99 which is really cheap and also made me skeptical.
My husband and I each had a glass with dinner. We both found that it had a very nice fruity nose, I immediately got apricots and pears and on the front of the palate it was fruity and crisp and really tasty…but…it finished poorly. The finish was too much alcohol, too astringent and a little bitter.
For dinner I made a fennel and raddicchio salad with a balsamic vinegarette and roasted garlic, olive bread pizza which consisted of olive bread (kind of like a ciabatta with olives in it) spread with roasted garlic then parmesan cheese, basil, campari tomatoes, sauteed baby bella mushrooms and red bell pepper and topped with buffalo mozzarella, with anchovies on some but not all of the pieces.
The pizza was excellent as was the raddicchio salad. I originally thought that it was the bitterness of the salad that was giving the wine it’s bitter taste but even after a bite of the pizza it still had that slightly off finish.
I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t buy this particular viognier again but I’d still love to find the Smoking Loon so I can compare notes. Saturday we’ll be out and about and I’m going to try and make it over to Total Wine and Spirits. If they have it we can compare.
Looking forward to week 10!
We had the Loon again with dinner tonight just to confirm our earlier opinions and we still liked it. I still like the subtle tones combined with it’s long finish. We will keep some bottles of this in stock at the house plus I’ll speak with my neighborhood Spec’s to have them stock it in the future so I don’t have to make a trip into the city when we need to replenish.
The only other Viognier I’ve tried is the Oak Grove and IMHO the Smoking Loon is far superior.
I liked this one. It definitely had a strong peach taste. It was yummy*!
*like my classy wine-snob vocab?
I was out of town for the beginning of this one, so I missed it. I was a the store earlier today, but I couldn’t find Smoking Loon anything, and I don’t feel like making the shop order it in this time. Too bad, I’m starting to find I like white wines better than I thought.
I am going to renew my efforts to find the Smoking Loon Viognier. I must taste it.
I haven’t seen a week 10 thread yet so I’m bumping this one. What’s up?
Week 10 thread on Thursday, my friend. Yes, that’s a week behind but life’s been moving like a freight train these days.
Thank you. I thought I was missing it and the search engine isn’t always cooperative. Looking forward to Thursday!