Erix Texier for President

It’s always great to see my friends Eric and Laurence Texier. They are always a pleasure to have around and wonderful people to talk with. Conversation is never lacking and often goes into the wee hours. Every time I’m around Eric I learn something or he forces me to think about my positions, whether they change or not. Eric thinks both more broadly and more deeply about vine growing and wine making than just about anyone I’ve met. Combine that with a probing intellect and I’m on board for Erix Texier for President of Wine.

We gathered at Vin Rouge in Durham to have dinner and get into some wines. It was an unfortunate night for wines, as many of them showed poorly, even wines that I’ve had many times and can’t find an explanation in any damage, all the bottles were in perfect condition. The weather was crazy, it being pre-Sandy. It really felt and tasted like hurricane weather, as those from this part of the world will understand. Honestly, I think this really affected the wines, although I have no scientific proof ,I have theories on low and high pressure, etc.. Also, several of the wines showed better a couple of days later after the low pressure had passed.

But it is just wine and Sandy did much more than that to many people. Fortunately, everyone i know ended up OK. Do your best to support those that did not.

N.V. Diebolt-Vallois Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs

Good, but a bit sweeter and more wood marked than I remember. Good texture and zip.

2010 Landron Muscadet Amphibolite

A flat and disappointing bottle. Not sure what the deal is here, we barely touched it.

2004 Éric Texier Condrieu Janrode

I don’t normally drink viognier, but when I do, it’s Texier Condrieu. Seriously, most viognier is laborious and heavy, not this one. Still lithe and deft, even after this many years in bottle. Maybe doesn;’t have the zing it did as a younger wine, but it isn’t old. It’s not young either. I doubt anyone has any left but my friend Ken, but if you do, this would be great at Thanksgiving.

2001 Huët Vouvray Sec Le Mont

I don’t remember anything about this, but I know it was opened.

1999 Weingut Knoll Riesling Smaragd Ried Schütt

This bottle was muted and strange in contrast to a smashing bottle a few months before. It showed better a few days later.

1999 Franz Hirtzberger Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Honivogl

Like the Knoll, this came across as stunted. Five days later, the remainder of the bottle was good, if not the show stopper I was expecting.

1999 Éric Texier Brézème Mise Tardive

This was the focus of the evening as Eric doesn’t have any bottles of this remaining and this was my last one. This has been a temperamental wine for its entire life with bottles ranging from terrible to profound. This particular bottle was a very good bottle. It was meaty and smoky, but in a graphite way, not a bacon way with dried darker fruits and a really seamless texture. It had a savory bottle weight to it and a cool hint of lavender on the nose. This bottle showed great balance on the palate between the acids, savory and fruit notes and the last remaining tannin (not much). It was the texture and the inner mouth perfume where this shined. Glad that I saved this bottle and even happier I got to open it with Eric.

1999 Ogier Côte-Rôtie

Aromatically stunted and a bit wood marked on the palate. Four days later this was fading. Oh well, a bottle wasted.

2008 Éric Texier Côtes du Rhône-Brézème Vieille Serine Domaine de Pergaud

Sandy totally kicked this beautiful magnum in the face. The palate was refined and silky, as we’ve come to expect from Eric and this site, but there was absolutely no nose to speak of. Well, that all changed  four days later when I finished the rest of the magnum, again while cooking at home. The nose was buoyant with herbs and flowers around what I have begun to think of as the savory Brézème core. There is something very special about these vines and even in difficult vintages like 2008, they have something very interesting to say.

2011 Marcel Lapierre Morgon

I’ve been drinking tons of this as it is so delightful now. This bottle was decidedly blah in comparison. Still, it was Lapierre Morgon, which is like pizza, always good. It was finished that evening.

2001 Philip Togni Cabernet Sauvignon

Reduced and crappy. I couldn’t get past that and didn’t touch another drop.

1986 Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele

This was a real bummer because I had a really wonderful bottle with Sophie a few months back and I always like to try at least one bottle of American wine while Eric is here.

1999 Amiot-Servelle Chambolle 1er Les Amoureuses

Another muted wine, this wine was a bit angular as well. There was fruit buried on the palate, but not much could be discerned. Three days later, I drank the rest while preparing dinner, and wow, what a difference. Although I imagine it would have been brighter had I opened it and consumed iut the same night, the nose had layers of fruit, woodsy not-quite-sous-bois aromas and more fruit and spice on the palate with the beginning of the umami thing that has come to characterize good Burgundy beginning to hit its stride. Too bad Sandy fucked this very good wine.

The happiest I've ever been about a corked wine

At J. Betski’s in Raleigh.

1999 Freie Weingärtner Riesling Smaragd Achleiten
Deep golden/green color. The nose is still white pitted fruits and Achleiten stone. I can't think of another vineyard with this kind of stony signature. It really does smell like a glass full of rocks. I would have liked a bit more generosity on the palate, there was something that wasn't quite cohesive, keeping it from being excellent, but it was very good.

1999 Franz Hirtzberger Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Honivogl
Man, what a bummer. This wine has been a monument to Gruner Veltliner and I thought for a minute it might just be some mustiness that would blow off. That was not to be as it got more and more chlorinated as it was open. The strange thing is, I've never been happier for a bottle to be corked as it forced us to order from the list, and what we ordered blew our minds.

1993 Louis Jadot Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Boudots
The nose was full of beautiful fruit with spice and sous bois notes developing around the edges. After a couple of hours of being open, it began to shut down a little bit. I think that it has a little upward potential if the structure resolves a little. It's close now, but the tannin are still a bit hard on the back end. It has great lift and the nose is amazing. Very much the Vosne side of Nuits.

2001 Bernard Levet Côte-Rôtie La Chavaroche
I opened this mid-afternoon on Josh's advice. By the time we tasted it at around 7 it was beautiful. Full meaty nose with hints of minerals, leather and other sauvage animal notes with some black and red fruit skins underneath. Really well put together. Smooth but still structured and cut. The structure was there to help the wine get across its meaning, not to dominate or distract. Given what the air did for it, I think this has years of development ahead of it. It is a hard wine to rate in the circumstances because the food wasn't geared to this type of wine, it was opened with another restaurant in mind. Really impressive and a singular expression of Côte-Rôtie.

1979 Karthäuserhof Eitelsbacher Karthäuserhofberg Riesling Auslese Sang
We purchased this off the list at J. Betski's because the Hirtzbereger was corked. Man, what a great piece of luck. The color was an ambient golden. The nose was still full of gooseberries and slate with only a hint of diesel or milkyness. On the palate, the acids really lit the wine up, giving the sensation that it was glowing in your mouth. It was driving itself into pleasure centers of the brain that rarely get tickled, sensual and intellectual all at once. It was the sort of experience that just stops you dead in your tracks and you just have to say "Damn". Easily the best white wine of 2011 and a steal even of the list. It was so good that we ordered another bottle to enjoy over conversation with the chef and the owner of the restaurant. Really shockingly good and I'd advise anyone who runs across a bottle to buy post haste!