Éric Texier, Charnay
It’s not an easy task to summarize this guy without writing a novel. There are so many stories and experiences around Éric Texier.
Éric and his wife Laurence met while studying engineering in Lyon. They loved to go mountain climbing together and unexpectedly they also enjoyed drinking wine on those occasions (seems dangerous but this was during the golden 70’s). The interest in wine increased during this time. When Éric and Laurence were done with school they decided to move into a flat in town and started their grown up careers in the nuclear industry.
That industry gives you a pretty decent salary, whereupon they started to invest in wines. It was all about the big names when they started, but after a while biggies bored them so Éric started to look outside the box and found another level of greatness in the wines from Gourgonnier, Chamonard, Trollat, Gentaz, Goyard and Guffens, among many others.
Another thing that bored Éric was his work, so he decided to do an internship with Jean-Marie Guffens at Domaine Verget in Burgundy. This amazing decision was followed by a decision to study at the proper Bordeaux oenology school where he (among many other winemakers we are working with) just learned what he didn’t want to do. After school, in 1995, Éric and Laurence moved into a house in the village of Charnay, southern Beaujolais. Éric made his first wine from an old parcel of Chardonnay in Saint-Véran and an even older Marsanne from Crozes-Hérmitage. In 1998 Éric finally quit his engineering job and bottled the first wines à la Texier.
In 2000 Éric bought his first 0,5-hectare vineyard in Brèzéme, an almost forgotten appellation just on the border of southern and northern Rhône. Since this place is all about politics and family traditions it’s really hard to buy land here. Anyway, nowadays Éric has 4,5 hectares of old vines of Syrah and Serrine in Brèzéme. In 2009 he also purchased a few hectares in Saint-Julien-en-Saint-Alban, just up the Ouvèze Valley on the other side of the Rhône River. Today he runs about 7,5 hectares there.
Besides this, Éric makes wines from Côte-Rôtie, Châteauneuf-du-Pape and the southern Rhône where he buys grapes from friends that have the fruit he’s looking for and farms organically.
All wines are vinified in Saint-Julien-en-Saint-Alban before being shipped to Éric and Laurence’s beautiful cellar in Charnay.
So, why live in Beaujolais and make wine from all over the Rhône Valley? The reason for that was that Éric had a plan to make wine in Burgundy but soon realised that this place needs more money than two engineer’s salaries. But no surprise, Eric brilliantly managed to start making the kind of wines he was longing for.
The red wines are classic, structured and complex. Pure fruit, great length and fine aromatics with a clear origin.
The white wines are fresh, fruity and mineral with fine structure.
2020 Brézème Roussanne
Soil: Rocky soil with Limestone in all Brezeme
Grape: Roussanne
Appellation: AOC Côtes du Rhône
Age of Vines: Planted 2012
Vinification: Direct press and fermented and aged on concrete tanks. Bottled in May 2021.
2018, 2019 Brézème Vieille Roussette (2019 also in magnum)
Soil: Rocky soil with argilo calcaire and pebbles.
Grape: Roussanne, the old local name is Rousette
Appellation: AOC Côtes du Rhône
Age of Vines: Planted 1952
Vinification: 50% of the grapes are directly pressed and then fermented and aged in old demi-muids. The other 50% are fermenting with the skins on amphora for 2 months, and then aged on the same amphora. After 12 months of ageing Éric blends the wines and leave them for a couple of months on old demi muid before bottling in the beginning of 2020 (in 2021 for vintage -19).
2020 Châteauneuf-du-Pape VV Blanc
Soil: Pebbles
Grape: Clairette and Bourbolenc
Appellation: AOC Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc
Age of Vines: Planted 1904
Vinification: Direct press, fermentation in old barriques and aged on lees for 18 months before bottling.
2020 Guindols White Petnat(K-Keg)
Soil: Sand, limestone and gravels.
Grape: Cinsault
Appellation: VDF
Age of Vines: Planted 1950-2009
Vinification: Direct press to not extract colour and fermented in concrete tanks. Bottled directly in the K-Keg with 10 grams sugar left to create the perfect bubbles.
2021 Guindols Rosé Petnat (2020 also in KeyKeg)
Soil: Sand, limestone and gravels.
Grape: Cinsault
Appellation: VDF
Age of Vines: Planted 1950-2009
Vinification: Whole bunch fermentation for 1 day in open vats before pressing and continuously fermented in concrete tanks. Bottled directly in bottle/KeyKeg with 10 grams sugar left to create the perfect bubbles.
2021 Chat Fou (Also available in 1 L bottle and 2022 in 20 liter Key-keg)
Soil: Clay, limestone and quartz on top of granite rock.
Grape: 85% Grenache 15% Clairette and Marsanne
Appellation: AOC Côtes du Rhône
Age of Vines: Planted 1968-1978
Vinification: Whole bunch fermentation for 4 days in open vats for the Grenache before ageing in concrete tanks. Direct press for the whites, fermentation and aged in concrete tanks. Blending and bottling takes place after 8 months of ageing.
2019 St Julien en St Alban (2020 in magnum, jeroboam & 20 liter K-keg)
Soil: Argilo calcaire and quartz on top of granite rock
Grape: Syrah
Appellation: AOC Côtes du Rhône
Age of Vines: Planted 1986
Vinification: Whole bunch fermentation for 1 week in open vats before pressing. 20 months of ageing in concrete tanks.
2015, 2016 Brézème Vieilles Serine (2013 in magnum)
Soil: Clay and limestone on top of hill and decomposed clay and limestone on bottom.
Grape: Serine (an old indigenous Syrah variety)
Appellation: AOC Côtes du Rhône
Age of Vines: Planted 1959
Vinification: Whole bunch fermentation for 2 weeks in open vats before pressing. 3 years of ageing in foudres before bottling, no sulphur added.
2015, 2016 St Julien en St Alban Vieilles Serine (2014 in magnum)
Soil: Granite rock
Grape: Serine (an old indigenous Syrah variety)
Appellation: AOC Côtes du Rhône
Age of Vines: Planted 1950
Vinification: Whole bunch fermentation for 2 weeks in open vats before pressing. 3 years of ageing in foudres before bottling, no sulphur added.
2020 Châteauneuf-du-Pape VV Rouge (Also in magnum)
Soil: Pebbles.
Grape: Grenache
Appellation: AOC Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge
Age of Vines: Planted 1904
Vinification: Whole bunch fermentation for 1 week in open vats before pressing and 24 months of ageing in old demi-muid and barriques. Then the wines are blended and allowed to rest for a few more months before bottling.
2016 Le Clau (Magnum bottle)
Soil: Granite rock, 0,5 ha planted in the lieu-dit ‘Le Clau’
Grape: They fought it was Serine (an old indigenous Syrah variety) but has found out it’s probably is Exbrayat or Bravade (old varieties from the region you don’t see anymore). They are researching on the variety, until then we can just freely enjoy this beautiful wine as it is without thinking about varieties.
Appellation: AOC Côtes du Rhône
Age of Vines: Planted 1930
Vinification: Whole bunch fermentation for 5 days in open vats before pressing. 15 months ageing in demi-muids before bottling, no sulphur added.