There are still lots of bottles of d’Arenberg “The Hermit Crab” Viognier Marsanne in Toronto Vintages stores. We uncorked a bottle to celebrate my last in-class exam on Wednesday, to go with a yummy though artery-clogging pasta with prosciutto cream sauce.

According to the LCBO Robert Parker somewhere says “notes of honeysuckle, apple blossom, and litchi nuts in its medium-bodied, dry, exuberant, even flamboyant style.” Mind you, he adds, it “also displays some restraint and elegance.” We got dried mangoes, lanolin, pineapple, apricot (J.’s handwriting makes this look like “apriest” but that can’t be right), as well as some kind of undefined floral note. Anyway, it’s both yummy and interesting enough to be worth the $17 they’re asking for it. Think rich cream sauces, shellfish, and/or poultry with a bit of fat on it.

As an aside, I saw a blurb in a supplement to today’s Globe about Indian Rice Factory having brought in some serious sommelier people to think about their wine list. We should go, before it gets much hotter out.