My best visit in France by far - Eric Texier (uploaded a few more photos but it still is a trial)

What a totally a cool guy. Easily one of the most engaging French winemakers I have had the pleasure to spend time with. Texier lives right down the road from Jean-Paul Brun in the small town of Charnay. Lots of golden bricks everywhere. Great town. Texier's house is very nice. Beautiful property. Stark but not too modernist. This is his house. His cellar is a short distance away and he makes wines in the Rhone, Macon and I do remember a Cassis back in the day. A great person, with such passion for life, wine and the world. He speaks perfect English and will engage you on any topic. He is as big a David Lynch fan as I am and we talked Lynch on the drive from his house to the cellar. We tasted a number of wines and also helped blend his Cotes-du-Rhone 2006 which was a fascinating exercise that I was honored to be part of. Can't wait till it drops as I think I like it better than the '05. Dressner, Shawn (West Coast Dressner rep), D-lils(David Lillie), Lyle and Eric made the blend. My first blend. I think Texier since 2004 has been on an amazing streak and upped his game tremendously. The wines have more purity and finesse to them than they ever have in this taster's opinion and he is one of few Rhone Producers (Bois de Boursan, Allemand) that I buy and actively cellar. They age beautifully and really develop. The best is yet to come I have a feeling. He is totally committed to making natural expressive wines of place that have wonderful balance and are more than priced fairly. Onto the notes.


The 2006 Cotes-du-Rhone-Brezeme was very ripe with classic Syrah aromas of games, olives, black fruits, and wet earth. The palate was very velvety with high acid that hit all the right places. Fruit on the finish was sweet, but not too sweet, and had lovely persistence. Focused, very drinkable and lovely wine.


The 2005 Cotes-du-Rhone Villages St. Gervais Vieilles Vignes Cadinnières is a killer wine. Wild berry almost confit-like aromas that follow through on the palate with great acids. Wonderful fruit throughout but still has a spine. The tannins are perfectly ripe. The palate was light but very complex with all different mineral components intermingled with the fruit. Eric said that this "light and complex" flavor profile is typical of St. Gervais.


Next up was the 2005 St. Joseph Vieilles Vignes which continued the parade of hits. A very mineral nose with some fruit peeking out from underneath. Also some nice meat and olive aromas. This comes from 60 year old vines and that intensity comes through on the palate. There is a wonderful spice with sweet ripe dark fruits and long grippy tannins. Serious St. Joseph. Wonderful purity and excellent texture.


Then was the 2005 Chateauneuf-du-Pape which had a striking nose of herbs, violets, garrigue, caraway and purple ripe fruits but not too ripe. Great balance on the nose. There was some serious tannin to this puppy and great focused x-mas spices. Lovely earthy sweet thick fruit. I don't like CDP but this was pretty awesome. Twenty Seven out of 16 stars.


Next up was the 2007 Crozes-Hermitage which had a nose of bacon, spice, armpit (in a good way) and mineral. It was an easy, ripe and very juicy wine. The fun side of Syrah. Not too complex but very drinkable.

More serious things loomed ahead with the 2007 Cornas which had a screaming mimi of nose. Mineral, oak, earth and just dark and evil spirits. Seriously brooding nose. This was obviousaly young as the palate was all dark black fruits with lovely and pure flavors of mineral, olive. Tannic though. As Cornas should be. His 1st vintage.

Next up was the very serious 2007 Hermitage and my notes are somewhat sparse on this one as it was in an embryonic state. Just tons of fruit and structure with great richness. Very well balanced. That's it.

We switched gears with the whites and started up with the 2006 Macon-Bussieres Tres Vieilles Vignes which was big, round and ripe with some oak peeking out but with lovely crisp acids. Great length and balance. Not as good as the 2005 but still one of my favorite Macon wines out there for the money.

Next up was the 2006 Cotes-du-Rhone Brezeme which is 100% Marsanne. A nose of honey and apple greets you enthusiastically right out of the gates which leads to rich, ripe and dense flavors that are dazzlingly pure. This is a very rich wine but light as a feather. This really impressed with that rich/light contrast. Really mouthfilling wine.

Up next was the 2007 Hermitage Blanc which had a complex nose of nuts, grapefruit, lemon and mineral. Almost candied in a jolly rancher style. High-toned nose that grabs you. Very rich on the palate but showing a touch of warmth. Besides that this is great juice. Juicy finish too.

The final wine was the 2007 O'Pale which is a strange yet delicious wine/beverage. Only around 7.5% in alcohol it had a very tropical nose with papaya, grapefruit all on a nice bed of minerality. Very fruity though. Easy to drink and very fun.

A wonderful visit and I hope to get back to Charnay soon.