the Rizzo winery NOTEBOOK
At Rizzo, we want to help our valued customers learn about how many hands this bottle went through before reaching their glass - or why wine has been the chosen beverage for thousands of years throughout history. We wanted to share the tools that enable our wine lovers to feel confident about discussing the bottle of Rizzo they are drinking with friends.
We created the Notebook to help get you there and to pass on our wealth of knowledge to you.
Viognier In The Spring
Viognier is the perfect wine for spring sipping as the sunshine peaks out from between the clouds. Rizzo's Viognier is now on our Spring Flight and retails for $20.
Viognier is the perfect in between of Chardonnay, where it has a similar full and lush body, and Riesling, where it contains similar aromatics, like peach, pear, and violet. The Willamette Valley had many plantings of these two grape varieties already, and at Rizzo, we like to be a little different.
Viognier, a white grape originating from France’s warm Rhône Valley, is best known for being the only grape permitted in Condrieu. If you know the Willamette Valley, you’d know that it’s not nearly as warm as the Rhône Valley, but you would also know that this beautiful valley of ours has hundreds of different microclimates. One of which can be found in the tip top of our vineyard, where the sun shines the most, allowing for our 1 acre of Viognier to be bathed in warmth most days in the growing season. Similar to the strong Mistral winds that blow through the Rhône Valley, Rizzo is in the Eola-Amity Hills which is known for the Van Duzer winds that breeze through the Cascade and Coastal Mountain Ranges.
Rizzo’s 2015 Viognier Tasting Notes
Our Viognier is pale-lemon in hue, with aromatic notes of citrus rind, orange blossom and soft hay, which fill the glass. Served best lightly chilled, the fresh acidity and notes of bright green-apple, apricot kernel, and young stone-fruit balance invitingly with warm notes of vanilla and honeyed hazelnut.
Pair our Viognier
Pair our Viognier with picnics in the park: add a mild cheddar or a honey goat cheese, an herb forward salad, add a sliced granny smith apple to the mix and try to find the flavor notes in the wine!
Pair our Viognier with dinner: complimenting crab cakes as an appetizer followed by a creamy pasta dish.
Pair our Viognier with sunshine: It’s delicious on the porch with friends on a warm summer day. No snacks necessary.
This delicious Viognier retails for $20
If you’re a club member it’s $16 / $15 / $14 depending on your wine club level.
Summer Is Here!
Rizzo Winery is celebrating the summer season with a flight to cool you down while you soak in the sun on our patio, and new hours on Friday so you can stay later with your friends and make those summer memories!
To celebrate the season we’ve got a special flight and new hours!
To us, Summer means getting off early and hitting the happy hour! At Rizzo, happy hours are here all summer long on Fridays from 3 to 7 PM. Reservations are encouraged as we have a small space, but they’re not required. We understand that some things are spontaneous, and we hope you spontaneously decide to visit our Estate Tasting Room!
While tasting through our Summer Breeze flight you’ll feel as free as that bird of prey hunting the sky in the photo above. It begins with our bright 2017 Chardonnay, made entirely in glass. This keeps the flavors fresh and authentic to Chardonnay itself. To continue keeping your cool through the flight is our delicious 2015 Viognier made from grapes on our estate! A heavier, creamy mouthfeel with this white wine gives us a different perspective from the Chardonnay before and gives us the best of both worlds. Our 2019 Pinot Noir Rosé is darker than most rosé’s, a little more time with the skins increases the color in the wine, but also the flavor complexity! This wine is perfect if you want to bridge the gap between rosé and red wine, or to convert your red wine loving friend to the rosé side. To finish off the flight we have our 2014 Carménère, a silky and spicy red wine that pairs perfectly with vegetables right off the BBQ!
Our Estate Tasting Room is Open
Friday 3-7 PM, Saturday and Sunday 11-4 PM
Rizzo's Spotlight: Viognier
Viognier is one of the most delicious white wines there is, change our minds. Though it’s not often planted in the Willamette Valley, we took a chance and now make a wine that’s filled to the brim with textural intensity and pungent floral and fruit flavors.
It is somewhat unusual to find Viognier vines planted on the slopes of Oregon’s famed Willamette Valley. This is exactly why we planted them, we wanted to challenge our climate and make wines that no one else was. We may be biased, but if you tasted this wine, we’re fairly certain you’d agree that this wine is a drop everything, purchase right now, must-have.
Viognier in the sky
Viognier has its origins, like most other ancient grapes. Originating in present day Croatia and then taken to the Rhône Valley in what is now France during the Roman Empire. The Rhône is where Viognier found it’s light alongside Syrah. Viognier can have trouble ripening which is why we have it planted at the top of our slope, to ensure it gets the maximum amount of sunlight possible.
What is debatably most delicious about Viognier is that in the glass you’ll receive intense floral aromas and flavors like Riesling or Muscat, yet we ferment our Viognier wines completely dry. This grape can also develop really beautiful texture, which gives those Chardonnay drinkers something they’ve been looking for minus the intense flavors of oak and butter. This wine exudes sunshine, and is a perfect pairing for those early days in spring when the sun is out but the weather has a fresh crispness to it.
Viognier on the beach
