We started our journey through the Rhône Valley with a visit to one of the innovative and most dynamic winemaker of the “young and wild” Rhône Valley crowd: Éric Texier. He is a Bordeaux native and nuclear engineer by training. He fell in love with wine and looked for opportunities to buy vineyards in areas with top terroir. Eric farms biodynamically and now owns vineyards in Brézème and in Saint Julien en Saint Alban, both small appellations at the southern tip of the northern Rhône.
Éric Texier's wife Laurence was our host. They live in Charnay in the Beaujolais Region, north of Lyon, and have rented a place there were they make their wines. The vineyards, however, are located in the southern part of the Northern Rhône Region. The vineyards are there as well as winemaking facilities for the initial phases of winemaking. We met in Charnay in their wine cellar and tasted with Laurence 5 Texier wines, including one from barrel.
Éric Texier (USA Importer: David Bowler)
David Bowler: Éric Texier might not have been the most obvious candidate to become one of the Rhône Valley’s most dynamic winemakers: he is a Bordeaux native and nuclear engineer by trade. But he fell in love with wine, drawn particularly to the wines of some of the great, old-school vignerons in the Rhône (Gentaz, Trollat, Verset, Juge), Burgundy (Henri Goyard at Domaine de Roally, Jean-Marie Guffens at Maison Verget), Beaujolais (Chamonard) and Provence (Mas de Gourgonnier).
Bitten hard by the wine bug, Éric dumped the corporate-scientist life for one in vines and wines, starting with an internship with Guffens in 1993. By 1995, he and his wife Laurence and their two young children Texier family had moved into a house with a 16th-century underground wine cellar in Charnay in the southern Beaujolais and still home today—and Éric was bottling his first vintage.
At that early point, Éric was working closely with vignerons from whom he learned and purchased fruit. Having his own vines seemed an unattainable dream. But Éric’s favorite old-guard Rhône growers pointed him in the direction of a venerable old Syrah vineyard to the south but still technically part of the northern Rhône Valley: Brézème, a once-celebrated but by then long-neglected vineyard area in a remote area on the eastern side of the Rhône River, where the Drôme River joins it from the west.
The coteau has full southern exposure, 300 meters in elevation, limestone-rich clay soils and an increasingly steep aspect with rockier terrain as the slope rises. Back in the mid-1800’s, the wines of Brézème had rivalled those of Hermitage (20 miles to the north, also on the eastern side of the Rhône), in terms of reputation and price; it attained solo AOC status in the Côtes-du-Rhône zone back in 1943. But by 1961, Brézème and its ancient terraces of pre-clonal, old-variant Syrah known as Serine had largely been abandoned. Éric was fortunate enough to be introduced to the “godfather of Brézème”, François Pouchoulin. Pouchoulin almost singlehandedly kept the Brézème AOC alive for over 50 years via his family’s tiny property, the Domaine de Pergault. Éric fell in love with the area and its rich viticultural history. He began working with the fruit and eventually acquired several hectares of Syrah and Roussanne.
Éric was able to do the same in a similarly obscure, Syrah-rich Ardèche vineyard area: St. Julien-en-St.-Alban. It lies across the Rhône from Brézème, on the western side, 200 meters higher up at 500 meters, with completely different, granite-based soils and a warmer microclimate; here Éric also owns a mix of Syrah vines--including some Serine--as well as Marsanne.
Texier bottlings from the oldest red and white vines in Brézème and St. Julien en St. Alban bear the moniker “Domaine Pergaud”, an homage to Pouchoulin. There are also younger-vine (30-40-year-old) clonal Syrah-vine bottlings from Brézème and St. Julien. When he has to replant, it is always selection massale.
While the heart and soul of Texier wines is the wines from Brézème and St. Julien, Éric makes a number of other wines. The entry-level Côte-du-Rhône wines (“Adèle” being the white, “Chat Fou” the red and rosé) come largely from his own vines, including in Brézème and St. Julien but also from the Vaucluse. Additionally, he makes very small quantities of Châteaunuef-du-Pape and Côte-Rôtie with fruit from like-minded vignerons with whom he has collaborated for years. No matter the source, Éric’s priority and passion is purity. Over years of intensive study and experimentation, he has picked and chosen from various farming traditions and philosophies--organics, biodynamics and Fukuoka among others—to arrive at the best way to get out of the way of the purest expression of grape, place and vintage in his wines. His own vineyards are certified-organic, but he rejects the use of copper and sulfur treatments (which are permitted in organics); he uses some of the plant-based preparations of biodynamics but rejects its animal-based ones. He encourages cover crops but no longer works the soils. Harvest is of course strictly by hand.
Éric’s feelings about is farming choices are strong--and strongly expressed as is his way--but they are not dogmatic. The same goes for his cellar practices. In his own words, he is “very old-school and very minimalist”, adapting the particulars for vintage variation. Éric’s attention to the most minute details from start to finish is exacting and exhaustive. Reds and white both are generally made with whole clusters; native-yeast fermentation; short macerations; very gentle pressing; little to no sulfur, and only at bottling if at all; vinification and aging in cement, steel and used oak (varying sizes, never new); no punching down and no racking for reds; extended lees contact with no bâtonnage for whites; and no fining or filtering. He is restless and willing to try new techniques (example: amphora-aging for Marsanne in 2015). The goal is finesse, not weight or power, which one senses in the fine acidity, the high-toned aromatics and the clean lines of his wines.
Generally pegged as part of the natural wine movement in France, Éric shrugs this and every other label off. He is an intellectual, a scientist, and a pragmatist with a clear-eyed, unapologetic take on his work: "My wines are not "nice" or "fun". I believe that they express where they come from and truly show a sense of regional identity. They are clear and precise. I don't give a damn what people are drinking at hipster wine bars in Paris or what a 1000-Euro bottle of Bordeaux tastes like. I'm very happy that people like my grandma and François Pouchoulin, the father of Brézème, like them."
The Wines we Tasted
We tasted 5 wines.
Brézème Blanc
Brézème Roussanne Côtes-du-Rhône
2017
Éric Texier
France
Rhône
100% Roussanne. Brézème is a small viticultural area 18 kilometers south of Valence. Like Hermitage and Crozes-Hermitage, Brézème sits on the eastern side of the Rhône but in the Ardèche, a less celebrated but increasingly, thanks to Téxier, a quality-driven growing area which includes many old vines. The soils are notably rich in limestone. His parcel of Roussanne is a southwest-facing clos, a true walled vineyard, with the biodynamically-farmed vines averaging 25 years old. For the Brézème Côtes-du-Rhône, Eric uses the youngest of them, planted in 2009. The fruit is hand-harvested and fermented as whole clusters with native yeasts in concrete tanks; the wine is also aged in concrete tank and bottled with only 30mg/liter of sulfur at bottling.
Roussanne is an uncommon, difficult varietal which ripens late, yields unevenly and suffers powdery mildew readily. Not surprisingly, its plantings declined over decades, but it is experiencing a Rhône revival, helped along by Téxier in fact. When grown and vinified with meticulous care, Roussanne can produce a rich, complex, age-worthy wine. Eric is currently the only producer of Roussanne in Brézème, where he feels the cooler microclimate and soils help temper Roussanne's natural fruit confiture-like tendencies.
Brézème Vieille Roussette Côtes-du-Rhône Pergaud
2015
Éric Texier
France
Rhône
Eric’s oldest-vine Roussanne on pure limestone. 50% on skins for 6-8 weeks in amphora and 50% direct-press in 20-yr-old old barrels; blended then and pressed together and aged in a mix of amphora & old barrels.
Brézème Rouge
St. Julien en St. Alban Vieille Serine Côtes-du-Rhône Pergaud (from barrel)
2017
Éric Texier
France
Rhône
100% Syrah. St. Julien-en-St. Alban is a village and vineyard area at the southernmost edge of the northern Rhône Valley, on the western side of the Rhône River in the Ardèche. Its granite soils, higher altitude and greater overall warmth distinguish it from Texier's other main vineyard site in Brézème, across the Rhône on the east side with limestone soils and slightly cooler temperatures. As he does in Brézème, Eric owns a small parcel of vines of old Serine--the legendary and unique group of non-clonal, highly variable Syrah--which he farms organically and harvests by hand (as with all of his vines). The wine is made in the same way as Texier's others: whole clusters are fermented with native yeasts in concrete tank with a short one-week maceration . There is no punching down or other cap submersion (only a moistening of the cap with wine) in order to avoid overextraction. Unlike the younger-vine, concrete-aged St. Julien Syrah bottling, the Pergaud Serine is aged for about 30 months in old 2500-liter foudres and bottled with no sulfur.
Brézème Syrah Côtes-du-Rhône
2016
Éric Texier
France
Rhône
100% Syrah. Brézème is an historic Syrah growing area at the southernmost edge of the northern Rhône Valley, on the eastern side of the Rhône River in the Drôme, near the start of the Alps It is a steep, south-facing hill rich in limestone and old vine terraces. Eric owns some old Serine parcels, as well as some younger clonal Syrah plantings going back 30 to 40 years. For this Côtes-du-Rhône bottling, Texier only this younger, clonal Syrah. The fruit is organically farmed and harvested by hand. Whole clusters are fermented with native yeasts in concrete tank with a short one-week maceration . There is no punching down or other cap submersion (only a moistening of the cap with wine) in order to avoid overextraction. The wine is aged in concrete for 15 months and bottled without filtration and with a miniscule10 mg/liter of sulfur.
Brézème Vieille Serine Côtes-du-Rhône Pergaud
2014
Éric Texier
France
Rhône
Bye-bye
Thanks Laurence for a great tasting.
Rhône Valley Tour 2018 by ombiasy WineTours: Wine, Culture and History, France (Already Released and Forthcoming Postings)
Rhône Valley Tour 2018 by ombiasy WineTours: Wine, Culture and History, France
Rhône Valley Tour December 2017: From Lyon to Avignon - Wine, Food, Culture, History
Understanding the Wines of the Rhône Valley: The Classification - AOC/ Vin de Pay/ Vin de France
The Rhône Wine Region in Southern France and its Wines: History, Classification, Northern and Southern Rhône
Winemaker Dinner with David Reynaud, Domaine les Bruyeres, Crozes-Hermitage in the Rhone Valley, at Chef Bart Vandaele's BToo in Washington DC, USA/ France
Traditional Dinner at Le Bouchon des Filles in Lyon
Dinner at a Bouchon - Chez Paul - in Lyon: Schiller’s Favorite Bouchons in Lyon, France
Vineyard Tour, Cellar Tour and Tasting at Maison Guigal in Ampuis, Côte Rôtie, Northern Rhône, with Export Director Stephane Crozet and Technical Director/ Winemaker Jacques Desvernois
Tasting at Maison Clusel-Roche in Ampuis, Côte Rôtie, Northern Rhône
Tasting at Domaine Georges Vernay in Condrieu, Northern Rhône, with Paul Ansellem-Vernay
Dinner with Matching Wines at Restaurant Beau Rivage in Condrieu, Northern Rhône
Cellar Tour and Tasting at Maison Delas-Frères in Saint Jean de Muzols – Saint Joseph, Northern Rhône, with Director Bruno Gonnet
Lunch at Restaurant La Grappe d’Or in Saint-Péray, Northern Rhône
Tasting at Domaine Jean Luc Colombo in Cornas, Northern Rhône
Vineyard Walk and Tasting at Paul Jaboulet Aîné in Tain-l’Hermitage, Hermitage, Northern Rhône
Cellar Tasting at Domaine Laurent Habrard in Gervans, Crozes-Hermitage, Northern Rhône, with Owner/ and Winemaker Laurent Habrad
Cellar Tour and Tasting at Domaine Combier in Pont de l’Isère, Crozes-Hermitage, Northern Rhône, with Owner/ Winemaker Laurent Combier
Lunch at La Grand Table de Michel Chabran, 1 Star Michelin, in Pont d l’Isère
Vineyard Tour, Cellar Tour and Tasting at Domaine Les Bruyères in Beaumont-Monteux, Northern Rhône, with Owner/ Winemaker David Reynaud
Winemaker Dinner with David Reynaud, Domaine les Bruyeres, Crozes-Hermitage in the Rhone Valley, at Chef Bart Vandaele's BToo in Washington DC, USA/ France
Cellar Tour and Tasting at Domaine La Martinelle in Lafare, Ventoux, Southern Rhône, with Owner/ Winemaker Corinna Kruse Faravel
Lunch at Restaurant Le Mesclun in Séguret, Southern Rhône
Cellar Tour and Tasting, including from Barrel, at Domaine Marcel Richaud in Cairanne, Southern Rhône, with Owner/ Winemaker Claire Richaud
Tasting at Domaine de Cabasse, Séguret, Southern Rhône, with Owner/ Winemaker Benoit Baudry
Wine Dinner at Restaurant Hôtel Domaine de Cabasse, Séguret, Southern Rhône
Lunch at Restaurant Le Dolium in Beaumes-de Venise, Southern Rhône
Vineyard Tour, Cellar Tour and Tasting of Wine and Olive Oil at Mas Saint Berthe, Les Baux de Provence, Southern Rhône, with Winemaker Christian Nief
Dinner at Restaurant Benvengudo, Les Baux de Provence, Southern Rhône
Cellar Tour and Tasting at Domaine du Pegau in Châteauneuf du Pape, with Owner/ Winemaker Laurence Féraud and Cellar Master Andreas Lenzenwöger
At Pont du Gard: Lunch at Restaurant Les Terrasses
Cellar Tour and Tasting at Domaine de la Mordorée, Tavel, Southern Rhône, with Owner Ambre Delorme
Cellar tour and tasting at Domaine La Bastide Saint Dominique in Courthézon, Châteauneuf du Pape, with
Owner Véronique Bonnet and Owner/ Winemaker Eric Bonnet
Tasting at the Caveau of the Perrin Family in Châteauneuf du Pape
Cellar Tour and Tasting at Château la Nerthe, Châteauneuf du Pape
Wine-pairing dinner at Restaurant Château des Fines Roches, with Chef Hugo Loridan-Fombonnet
New Year’s Eve at Château des Fines Roches in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, France