Clendenen

Starting his winery Au Bon Climat in 1982, Mr. Clendenen had been instrumental in showing the region's potential for these Burgundian varietals, and this influenced his wife's decision to try something different.

New and Old Worlds Meet in Decadent Viogniers Jay McInerney 2011

Moving west to pursue her interest in wine, she spent 18 months at Sinskey Vineyards in the Napa Valley, where she met Au Bon Climat's Jim Clendenen.

New and Old Worlds Meet in Decadent Viogniers Jay McInerney 2011

Ms. Clendenen, who looks in person like a cross between Jodie Foster and Kate Hudson, grew up in rural North Carolina, where her father had a bottled-spring-water company.

New and Old Worlds Meet in Decadent Viogniers Jay McInerney 2011

Surprisingly, the master of Condrieu favors a richer, more decadent—some would say New World—style, employing new oak barrels, which Ms. Clendenen normally eschews, and riper grapes.

New and Old Worlds Meet in Decadent Viogniers Jay McInerney 2011

But Morgan Clendenen had her reasons for choosing Viognier as the focus of her winemaking aspirations when she started Cold Heaven 15 years ago.

New and Old Worlds Meet in Decadent Viogniers Jay McInerney 2011

The wine, called Deux C, quickly became a cult item, fought over by sommeliers on both coasts of the U.S. The sommeliers who first introduced me to the stuff leaned in close and whispered the news, as if he were offering me something illegal: "Jim Clendenen's wife… Cuilleron… sick juice…."

New and Old Worlds Meet in Decadent Viogniers Jay McInerney 2011

For one thing, her then-husband, Jim Clendenen, cast a big shadow as the godfather of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the Santa Barbara region.

New and Old Worlds Meet in Decadent Viogniers Jay McInerney 2011

The Clendenen-made, Cuilleron-styled Viognier is called Saints & Sinners—"because in France Yves would be considered a sinner for performing this kind of experiment," Ms. Clendenen explains, "but he's a saint to us Americans."

New and Old Worlds Meet in Decadent Viogniers Jay McInerney 2011

Indeed, most of California's microclimates are probably too hot for Viognier, but Ms. Clendenen believed that parts of California's Central Coast, with its transverse valleys which funnel cool Pacific air into the interior, could provide congenial real estate.

New and Old Worlds Meet in Decadent Viogniers Jay McInerney 2011

In the meantime, Ms. Clendenen's own Cold Heaven Viogniers are available from the winery and Mr. Cuilleron's excellent 2009s have reached our shores.

New and Old Worlds Meet in Decadent Viogniers Jay McInerney 2011