Eric Texier
Bel Air
69380 CHARNAY

A new addition to the RW stable, the maverick Eric Texier merits his own individual offer. Though he produces a range of wines from bought in grapes covering both the northern and southern Rhône - and some vineyards as far north as the Maçonnais - what we found particularly exciting were his efforts from his own vines in Brézème and St Julien – two relatively unknown Côtes du Rhône appellations with a wealth of rarely tapped potential (situated between Valence and Montélimar, Brézème to the east of the motorway, St Julien to the west).

Eric Texier made the unprecedented leap from nuclear engineer to winemaker in the early nineties. He was fed up with the “Soviet” side of working for big companies and craved the freedom that working for himself could bring. Although his passion for wine was begat from the wines of Burgundy (and, like many other vignerons, his first choice would have been to acquire some Burgundian vines but he lacked the small fortune required), he was inspired by an older generation of Rhône producers like Marius Gentaz, Noel Verset, Raymond Trollat and Pouchoulin, and felt that a successor was needed. Drawing on their methods of only using natural yeasts and leaving the bunches intact, he developed some of his own ideas and techniques as well. The grapes are grown organically (ECOCERT certified since 2008 though the labels do not mention this) but not biodynamically; Eric finds the ideology for DEMETER certification far too sectarian. There are two aspects of biodynamism he does subscribe to – the use of preparations to regenerate the soil and rotating crops between the rows of vines to increase the matière of the soil. Green harvesting is never carried out as Eric feels that though it can make the resulting wines richer and rounder, it also makes them more simple. Maturation is carried out in old demi-muids and sulphur dioxide is never used during vinification, only at bottling. All of these methods, he feels, serve to express the special terroir of these appellations.

And what of the terroirs? Brézème is a tale of two soils, divided by a valley. One, which Eric refers to as the “vrai Côte de Brézème” and likens to Hermitage, is made up of marnes calcaires while the other is more alluvial with galets ronds. There is a unique microclimate here, 300m in altitude with a cooling influence from the Vercors mountains to the east. Some vineyards are classified as Brézème and others not in a seemingly haphazard fashion; the only element that Eric can find in common for the classified vineyards is that they are easier to work. Texier’s wines come from 4.2ha here, producing approximately 20,000 bottles (slightly more than St Julien, of which there were 16,000 bottles produced in 2010). St Julien is, curiously, much hotter than Brézème though it is just across the Rhône and 200m higher in altitude at 500m. It, too, has two distinct soil types, divided in this case by a fault line. To the south are calcereous soils and to the north, where Eric has his Syrah, Grenache and Cinsault vines, the soils are granitic. According to the rules of the appellation, there are seven permitted varieties here (in Brézème there are only four) but single varietal Syrah, the old vines historically known as Sereine or Serine, is allowed. The old vines here were replaced using a technique called marcottage which is traditional to the region, but which creates difficulties for the modern vigneron who prefers to use an “intercep” machine rather than a hoe. A branch of the vine is essentially buried and trained to grow a second, grape-producing vine out of the ground on the other side – this can really only be explained with a photo (see next page)! Eric’s Syrah and Roussanne vines are the original local varieties and not clones; even his young vines are from a massal selection of these old vines (this is why the old vine red and white cuvées are called ‘Serine’ and ‘Roussette’ respectively). The Syrah bunches we saw were well spaced with grapes the shape of little olives.

Eric feels that he essentially ‘discovered’ St Julien as a terroir per se. So many of the grapes grown here get sold off for use by unscrupulous negociants in more expensive appellations further north that before he started making wine he had never actually tasted a St Julien. He is the only organic producer both in Brézème and St Julien, and could be seen as a pioneer of both appellations which, while today being just humble Côtes du Rhône, are expected very shortly to have their own appellations.

The wines which we have chosen to offer are what we feel best represent the two terroirs, dense and serious but also fruit-forward and fresh. In addition to red wines from both appellations, there is also a Roussanne from Brézème – available in both jeunes vignes and vieilles vignes. 2009, though yields here were down to about 30hl/ha from a more typical 40hl/ha, was a perfect vintage for vignerons with healthy grapes and an easy harvest. The wines are quite ripe in style so we were glad to be able to secure some of the 2008 Brézème vieilles vignes which has a lovely northern Rhône floral elegance. 2010 returns to that style with plenty of cassis and violet aromas in the red wines – it was more difficult as a vintage but has lovely balance and more ageing potential. We are currently offering ’09 for most wines, but watch this space: the red 2010s will be bottled early next year.

TEX04 Brézème Roussanne 2010 75cl
This comes from 1.50ha planted in 2001. Stone fruit on the nose with some gingery spice. Ripe and round on the palate with a slightly appley note; lovely texture and minerality with some perceptible tannin adding interest. Fresh and exciting.

TEX05 Brézème Roussette v.v. 2009 75cl
Very rich nose, almost Condrieu-like. Surprisingly tightly knit on the palate, hiding extraordinary matière. Long and with lively acidity; this will only continue to gain complexity.

TEX01 Brézème Rouge 2009 75cl
This jeunes vignes cuvée comes from Syrah vines between 10 and 30 years old. Packed with rich, chocolatey dark fruit on the nose with a ripe blueberry undercurrent. Rich and structured on the palate with notes of black pepper and hazelnut; this has a big mouth presence.

TEX02 Brézème Rouge v.v. 2008 75cl
From just 0.5ha of vines. This is a classy wine with a refreshingly low abv of 11.8%. Elegant black fruits on the nose with fabulous minerality and energy on the palate; peppery and long.

TEX03 St Julien en St Alban ‘vieille Serine’ 2009 75cl
From old vines planted just after the war on 2.7ha. Though still quite firm in its young age, there is a lot of charm to be found in this wine – feminine and floral with raspberry and blackberry fruits. Fantastic concentration.

Madeline Mehalko