The first Viognier ever planted in the Walla Walla stones. Arguably the best in America. Allocated only.

There's a short list of New World whites that can stand beside Condrieu, and this is at the top of it. Jeb Dunnuck has called Cayuse Viognier, in his opinion, one of the greatest Viogniers from the New World — and he's repeated it vintage after vintage, describing it as consistently one of the best in the New World.

The fruit source is historic. This wine comes from the first Viognier vines planted in Walla Walla Valley in 1997, in the Cailloux Vineyard — the same cobblestone site that anchors Christophe Baron's legendary Cailloux Syrah, with a topsoil mix of silty loam and basalt cobblestones, farmed biodynamically. Those river stones are the whole game: they absorb heat and drive ripeness, while the stony subsoil gives the wet-stone signature critics find every year. As Wine Enthusiast put it, the wine always captures the distinctiveness of this region of the valley, with plentiful wet stone aromas and flavors.

Tasting notes — 2024: Stored in a combination of stainless steel and concrete eggs before bottling, the 2024 is loaded with tension and richness, coming off fat on the tongue, with cantaloupe, white rose water and Key limes combining with hints of mango and star jasmine water on the palate. — Owen Bargreen

• Colour: pale to medium gold, faintly green at the rim
• Nose: orange blossom, white peach, cantaloupe and rose water over chalk dust
• Palate: medium- to full-bodied and genuinely fat in texture, yet strung tight — Key lime and mango held by saline minerality
• Finish: long, stony, gently spiced
• Serve: 50–55°F (10–13°C) in a Burgundy glass, never a small white pour. Let it warm in the glass; the aromatics only open as it does.

No oak. All texture.

The signature comes from vessel choice, not barrel: raised in a mix of concrete egg and stainless steel, a regime that in a prior vintage saw nine months of rest before bottling. No new oak, nothing masking the site — which is why this reads as Condrieu rather than as a warm-climate Viognier.

The track record

Mid-90s almost every year:

• 2023 — 96 points, International Wine Report; 93 points, James Suckling
• 2022 — 94 points, Wine Enthusiast
• 2021 — called "another brilliant wine" by Dunnuck, with tart apricot, honeyed flowers, orange blossom and chalky minerals
• 2020 — 94+ Wine Advocate, 94 Jeb Dunnuck, 93 James Suckling
• 2019 — 97 points, Jeb Dunnuck; 94 points, Wine Enthusiast
• Aggregate — 92/100 across 78 critic reviews

Why it's nearly impossible to find

Cayuse sells its production to mailing-list members, and the Viognier is made in tiny volume — one vintage saw only 152 cases. Retail bottles surface rarely and disappear fast.

Perfect with Duck, goose and game birds — plus scallops in brown butter, lobster, roast chicken with apricot, Thai curry, pork belly, and washed-rind cheeses like Époisses.

The details