2007 Eric Texier Côtes du Rhône-Brézème Vieille Serine Domaine de Pergaud- France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône-Brézème (1/3/2022)
This is a wine that evokes memories before I even taste it. The associations of friends, acquaintances and casual encounters that have been touched by Texier wines are too numerous to account. We dealt with plastic corks (thankfully for a brief period), different bottlings that looked similar, only to be quite unique, and unpredictable aging curves that opened and closed like the opening of the windmill on the mini-golf course. Ultimately every wine was at the very least interesting, and often (as with this wine) fascinating.
My usual reaction with the Serine bottlings is to say “no, not yet.” Impulse finally got the best of me, one year before the rule of 15 kicked in. It’s still young. As it was on release the wine is largely savory, with fruit being an afterthought behind an umami bomb of soy, roasted meat, and tar. It’s Syrah(Serine) stripped down to its sinews, the underlying form of wine rather than its finery. I wish I had a haunch of venison roasting over wood coals, but the bone chilling January night will have to provide an atmosphere. This is wine for a cabin in the woods, after a successful hunt.
David,
I want to thank you for keeping this wine all down the road, until it delivered everything the grapes had to deliver.
I know that less than 1% of those bottles made it to this point, and I realize that it is a lot of effort, patience and money to ask.
But truly, I grew those grapes and made this wine wishing that at least 1 bottle gives 100% of what I felt back then.
So again Merci for doing most of the job that was needed for this to happen!!!
Sounds awesome, thanks for the note. I have been holding onto one bottle of the 2011 vintage as the CT notes have indicated the wine not being yet in its drinking window. I guess it is best to follow the rule of 15 here too indeed (as it always is!).
I have a recently acquired ‘09 Texier Brezeme regular bottling in the queue. I feel similarly about his wines, going back for the ‘98 I managed to find in Seattle in ‘01 and enjoyed tremendously. Been too long since I checked in on a Brezeme. I’m sure it’s still a pup.
As always, an evocative, elegant tasting note. Thanks, David.
And I particularly like this one because I have a bottle of that downstairs. Doesn’t sound like there’s any rush to open it, though. (Eric - Please note, there is at least one more bottle unopened!)
Eric, good to see you here. What happened with the Domaine de Pergaud Saint Julien en Saint Alban Vieille Serine bottling? That one was my favorite of these and I haven’t seen it here since 2014.
Enjoy Eric’s wines a lot. I still have many many vintages left. I just had Eric’s 2001 Cote Rotie last night. What a gorgeous wine, full of umami, lavender, smoked meats, just a wonderful example of a N. Rhone, great cut in the finish and perfect with a tomahawk steak! I’ll post a TN here soon.
Eric, great to see you here. Doug Powers and I still hoping our paths cross again!
Thank you for your thoughts Eric. I remember several years ago when you were an early guest on Levi Dalton’s podcast. I seem to recall you were concerned that 2009 (which I also have in the cellar) showed too much of the vintage, and not enough of the terroir. I will be opening one soon to see if time has changed the wine to be more terroir transparent. I certainly think the 2007 has done that.
It is always difficult to make generalization about my wines since they often have a wild component due to my vinegrowing/winemaking options.
This doesn’t concern my negoce wine for which I buy grapes, systematically uses a bit of sulfur at the bottling (Chat Fou, Adèle, Chateauneuf, Vaison) and have a more conservative approach, in terms of aging and bottling.
Otherwise I would say that the Domaine de Pergaud bottlings and Cote Rotie are traditionnal (though “non conventional” oriented) old school Northern Rhone wines and that the rule of 15 applies most of the time. Of course you will find exception with very gentle vintages such as 2012 or 2014.
The plain bottlings (black and white labels) are made to be drunk as released. Again they are exception such as 2011 or 2013 that are much better now than on release.
The whites can be opened young but age very well over 10/15 years period of time, sometimes more (2000 white chateauneuf is a favorite of mine).
I hope this is helpfull, and not too “marketing” oriented for this board…
Back then, 2009 seemed like a monstrous vintage in terms of climate : a bit like 2003, but with vines in better shape at harvest though. I was then very concerned with low acid, especialy for Brézème, in terms of terroir expression.
Now, especially after the 2018/2019/2020 trio, I look at 2009 with a certain feeling of nostalgia…
I didn’t taste Brézème Pergault lately but had a few very good St Julien en St Alban, though very “natural” in terms of touch. Unexpected but satisfying for these occasions (quite festive and informal).
Cheers
Thanks for taking your time to answer, personally I find it very valuable to understand the winemaker’s view/experience as he/she has intimate knowledge about the wines.
Funny that you mention 2013, a Côtes du Rhône st. Julien en st. Alban was one of the bottles that had me thinking if maybe the “plain” bottlings might have quite some serious stuffing to drink well bottle time.
My fault in that case for asking the question - I am at least happy to understand your wines a bit better
I’ve had several really great bottles of the 2011 over the last few years (3 of the 8 CT notes are mine). I might wait a bit if I only had one bottle, but wouldn’t be afraid to open it for the right occasion.
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}