2005 Éric Texier Côtes du Rhône-Brézème- France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône-Brézème (9/24/2009)
Fake cork. I didn’t know but I am glad I didn’t let this age. Ruby/purple in color. The nose is nice enough with cherries and dark cherries. A bit of liquer as well. Medium bodied. On the palate, this is tart cherries. Some complexity but overall I think still showing youthfull. It seems like it could develop, so why put the fake cork on it? 50+3+12+17+7=89 (89 pts.)
I don’t know when Texier went to plastic, but I think it was about the time North Berkeley stopped importing his wines. Sad for me on both counts. I did cellar the 1999 Brezeme and the 1999 Cote-Rotie VV. Enjoyed both over the last week very much. My companions preferred the Cote-Rotie, which we had a few days after the Brezeme. I was not so sure. Both were wonderful and had aged beautifully.
Sticking to the Syrah theme I opened a 2005 Burgess Syrah (Napa) the other night and was surprised that it had held up so well under its plastic cork. My experience agrees with yours that wines do not last long under plastic.
If memory serves me correctly, Eric Texier only used plastic corks for a few vintages, and has now gone back entirely to natural corks for his wines. He was quite disappointed how quickly his wines evolved under the plastic corks that he used, and I am sure that he would be the first one to agree with you that it was a pity that any of his wines were bottled thusly. I love the Brézème bottlings from him, both the regular and the Vieilles Vignes which is now named for the estate that the wine hails from, Domaine Pergault, where Eric now has a long-term lease. Brézème is such a beautiful, little-known gem in the northern Rhone, and I am very glad that a gifted winemaker such as Monsieur Texier has chosen to focus on wines from this great hillside vineyard. In John Livingstone-Learmonth’s fine book on the northern Rhone, there is a wonderful quote from Etienne Guigal (when he was still working at Vidal-Fleury) observing that if his own negociant business had not taken off, he would have bought the entire hillside of Brézème.
I’ve got a 6-pack of his 2005 Côtes du Rhône Villages St. Gervais V. V. Les Cadinères in storage. Anyone know if these have plastic corks as well? If they do, I better go get em and start drinking.