Eric Texier Rouge Chat Fou 2022

Where: Rhone France
Grapes: 45% Grenache 35% Cinsault 20% Clairette
Body: Medium
Category: Red Wine

The wine's name translates to "Crazy Cat" and is named after one of the Texier's cats who was in fact quite crazy.

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.

"Chat Fou" is by design a fresh, light "vin bistro", as eric t. refers to it. He added Cinsault and reduced the Grenache since the 2019 vintage to move it in the direction of greater charm. Plus, he feels that compared to Grenache, Cinsault is a much more sustainable and potentially successful variety in the face of sky-rocketing temperatures in the Rhône.

Winemaking:The bunches are partly de-stemmed and co-fermented with native yeasts in open-top concrete tanks with a short maceration (around 5 days)and no sulfur. No extraction techniques are applied to the wine, as is true for all Texier reds. Chat Fou is aged in concrete tank on its fine lees for around 12 months and bottled without fining or filtration and with a small amount of sulfur.

Organic // native yeasts

2022  //  750ml  // ABV 12.5%