Viognier became one of the world’s most fashionable white grape varieties in the early 1990s, mainly because its most famous wine condrieu is distinctive, was associated with the modish rhône, and was then relatively scarce. By the mid 2000s, it was planted all over the Languedoc and had spread to the great majority of the world’s wine regions, and in Australia had become a common blending partner with various red grapes, especially syrah, for co-fermentation, copying traditional practice in côte rôtie. château grillet is the only other all-Viognier French appellation. dna profiling has shown a parent–offspring relationship with mondeuse blanche, and therefore, not unexpectedly, a close one with syrah. It also suggests a close genetic relationship with freisa from Piedmont, a likely progeny of nebbiolo, making Viognier a cousin of Nebbiolo—something of a surprise.
