750ml bottle
12.5% abv
Named after Eric's crazy cat, this is a fun and not so serious natural wine is a blend of 45% Grenache, 35% Cinsault, and 20% assorted white grapes. Some of the fruit is sourced but all is certified-organic, partially de-stemmed and aged in concrete. The wine is red, but it has a lightness to the palate with bold aromas of dried meats, tobacco, dark cherry, and crisp acid. A very nice balancing act of richness and lightness, creating a perfect wine to pull out of the cooler for warmer weather.
When you taste with Eric Texier, you’re guaranteed two things: incredible wine, and zero bullshit. He doesn’t want to be a part of a “scene,” and he’s been known to take shots at other winemakers when he feels like they are lying about or otherwise disrespecting the craft. He’s a winemaker’s winemaker—endlessly reinventing, experimenting and recording the results. He wants more than great wines; he wants to push conversations forward and nudge people to become better stewards of the land and better winemakers. He was a PhD nuclear engineer before switching to winemaking, which he did without any family land or real experience. He uses his science background in order to know how not to add things to his wine, however
In the case of Chat Fou, it had been official Côtes du Rhône for many years, even as a lighter take on the style due to his inclusion of white grapes like Clairette. But starting in 2021 it is simply Vin de France, as he decided it was too much of a pain in the ass to keep fighting with the AOC over how light the color was. At this point he has enough of a following it doesn't matter, so it really just proves how out of touch the AOC is.
The 2022 is as fire as ever, with a blend of 50% Grenache, 30% Cinsault, and 20% Clairette aged in concrete with no sulfur until bottling. Silky and fresh, with plums, violets, and fine blueberry-skin texture. For a wine that is 'too light' for typical Côtes du Rhône, it has more weight and depth than you would think, with a long, satisfying finish. Chill it down, pair it with almost anything. I so wish I could pick up any bottle of random Côtes du Rhône and have it taste like this.
– Matthew Hawkins & Jonathan Kemp
A man of conviction but by no means a zealot, Eric Texier likes to push the boundaries.
Despite having no experience or contacts in wine, Eric decided to give up his career as a nuclear engineer and study winemaking in 1992, interning with Jean-Marie Guffens at Verget in Mâcon. Lacking the network to buy his own vineyard, Eric did his time with established winemakers then made négoce wines with the fruit of like-minded purists until he was introduced to François Pouchoulin, AKA the Godfather of Brézème. Eric was fascinated by the history of this tiny enclave on the southernmost edge of the Northern Rhone, on the left bank of the Rhone. It is South facing, has limestone-rich clay soils and, at 300 meters of elevation has an increasingly steep aspect with terrain that grows rockier as the slope rises. In the mid-19th century, its wines rivalled those of Hermitage but, by 1961, just one hectare remained. Thanks to Pouchoulin’s help and guidance, Texier eventually succeeded in purchasing a tiny parcel of vines in Brézème. Many years later, Éric has now put the Brézème appellation back on the map, and is the leading grower there. After Brézème, Eric and his wife Laurence (the backbone of their business-they are very much a team and travel everywhere together) purchased another tiny plot, this time in the Ouvèze valley in the Ardèche, on the right bank of the Rhone. This site has granite soils, is at a higher altitude than Brézème and has higher growing temperatures. According to Eric, both of these classic Northern Rhone plots had almost been forgotten because of their isolated geographic position and small surface areas. Today, Eric and Laurence have 12 hectares under vine, with vines aged from 30 to 90 years old on both sides of the Rhone, all worked organically. This is not a sudden conversion or a response to trend, Eric has worked organically since the beginning. As for biodynamics, he follows some of its principles but is not dogmatic about it.
– alliancewine.com
