My third bottle of this from a recent auction purchase, and another outstanding showing. This comes across fully mature, there’s already quite a bit of savoury meaty, leathery and earthy development around the gentle red fruit and olive notes at the core, and higher toned floral/peppery accents. It’s very graceful and polished on the palate, with the tannins fully resolved and bright acids keeping it very lively and fresh. No regrets in drinking these now, despite the rule of 15 - this is pretty much everything I want Northern Rhone syrah to be when it ages.
Thanks for the note, Salil; Texier is a producer I’ve been meaning to seek out.
Echoing Salil, this was a very fine bottle. The smoky/meaty elements were what really grabbed me. Went great with the slow braised pork.
The rule of 15 only works in the most general terms – not long enough for wines like the 99 Clape, but it overshoots lots of excellent examples.
I hear you on the rule of 15. I have a 99 of Salil’s wine, but I hear that it too still has a ways to go. Anyone have recent knowledge?
99 bottles but a premature Cote Rotie ain’t one?
I was texted pictures of that butt, before, during and after . . . .
Not fair.
Nice, Adrian,
Lost the “a”: “a 99 of Salil’s wine”; I’ve fixed it.
Nice, have some 05 buried. Need to keep em handy for a Zylberberg encounter.
Well, the rule of 15 helps rationalize away the crappy bottles of Texier, since none (or very few?) of the wines are more than 15 years old. So it has value there.