Eric Texier, CdR Rouge St. Julien-en-St.Alban 2020
Cellar Door Wines & Spirits

Eric Texier, CdR Rouge St. Julien-en-St.Alban 2020

$32.99
 
$32.99
 

Grower: Eric Texier
Region: Northern Rhone, France
Grape Varieties: Syrah
Viticulture: Organic
Category: Red
Size: 750 ml

From Texier's younger (20-40-year-old) vines, planted on a south-facing slope on granite soils in the warm St-Julien-en-St-Alban zone (in the Ardèche on the northern bank of the Ouvèze--to the west of the Rhône River, at the southern edge of the northern Rhône Valley). They are organically farmed and harvested by hand. The vinification and aging are identical to Texier's Brézème bottling and thus purely expressive of the much warmer, sunnier microclimate and granite-rich St. Julien terroir: whole-cluster fermentation with native yeasts in open concrete tanks with no sulfur and a 6-8-day maceration; no extraction techniques (only a submerged cap for gentle infusion of color and flavor); aging in concrete tanks on the fine lees for 18-24 months with no racking; bottling is without fining or filtration and with only a minute dose of sulfur.

"The 2020 Saint-Julien en Saint-Alban from Éric Texier is a fine bottle of young syrah. The bouquet is deep, precise and beautifully black fruity in personality, wafting from the glass in a mix of cassis, pepper, expresso, grilled venison, a nice touch of black olive, granite soil tones and plenty of upper register smokiness. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, ripe and very well balanced, with a fine core of fruit, lovely soil inflection and grip, fine-grained tannins and a long, complex and seamlessly balanced finish. This is still a puppy and quite primary in personality today, but also quite easy to drink. It is not a crime to be opening bottles today, but more complexity will certainly emerge with just a modicum of patience. 2023-2045. 91."
John Gilman,
View from the Cellar
November 2023

 

 

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