ON TEXAS WINE: Do They Age? Part 24, KIEPERSOL ENTERPRISES 2011 Merlot, Texas (∞)

by Andrew Chalk

The preamble to part one read…

“More people are coming round to the idea that Texas can make good wine as they sample more of it. But the ultimate test of gravitas in, at least red wines, is how they age. How does Texas do in that regard?

To find out, I am doing a series of tastings of Texas wines, all 10+ years old, and assessing how they are doing. I am choosing them based on how their peers in other parts of the world do at the end of their first decade.” 

And later added

“Since this vintage is no longer available in the retail market I have helpfully indicated the price as ‘infinity’ in the title, above. ”

THE WINERY, AND PIERRE DE WET

Kiepersol was committed to 100% Texas grapes from the first minute the late, great, Pierre de Wet founded it in 1998. Furthermore, not just any grapes, but from the vine species vitis vinifera, more easily described as the vines that make all the world’s great wines. People said it could not be done in East Texas, but de Wet was determined and pioneered techniques to defeat the glassy-winged sharpshooter that spread the Pierce’s disease that killed the vines. 

The results are over 12 species of vitis vinifera grapes that made wine from his 67-acre vineyard during his life, the work continued by his daughters since his tragic passing in 2016. 

I know from personal experience that de Wet’s belief that Texas wine should be made from Texas grapes was very deep. When I started writing about authenticity in Texas wine, I was an outlier. Other writers excused the relabeling of California bulk wine with inane excuses like “there aren’t enough grapes in Texas”. They conducted softball interviews with winemakers labelling California bulk wines to look like Texas wines. They never took them to task. One winery owner, mainly involved in selling California bulk wine as Texas wine, told me to my face “the consumer doesn’t care where the grapes come from”. Others, some of whom have since become great friends, appeared ready to put out a contract on me. 

At the same time I was given great sustenance by winemakers who made contact with me through a back channel, and egged me on. Finally, someone outside the industry was willing to say publicly what they had believed for years. That a wine industry in Texas that was based on the surreptitious use of out-of-state grapes was not worth it. It had no future in a world that increasingly sought authenticity. That 100% Texas grapes should be the core principle in Texas winemaking. 

Pierre de Wet was one of the first to contact me. We did not know each other but when he saw one of my early articles on the evils of For Sale In Texas Only (in 2013!) he called me. At 5:30 in the morning. Farmer’s time. And we became friends from that moment.  

TASTING NOTES 

Kiepersol has made many delicious wines. I was totally unfair in not springing on this one until 14 years after its creation. However, it is ready. It is a wine of tertiary aromas. Forest floor, meat, leather, fig, and wet leaves. The fruit is still a presence, and is mainly black plums. Tannins are even, fine-grained, and not anywhere near disintegrating. Fine winemaking to complement the fine grape growing is going on here. 

I should say that I caught it with nanoseconds to spare. Maybe it was my storage (although the cork came out in exactly one piece) but there is a hint of oxidation coming on. So, if you are the other member of homo sapiens who has a bottle of this wine heat up the Weber, and have it with steak or barbecue real soon now.

Sample.