Eunice’s wine list leans to bright, clean
It stands to reason a restaurant that gazes back toward “home” in Louisiana would have a Frenchcentric wine list, although Eunice’s general manager, Luke Smith, didn’t put his together with blinders on.
The approximately 150 selections are wonderfully eclectic and have a fairly global reach. Smith, who came to Houston from New Orleans, where he was running Eunice owner BRG Hospitality’s Pigeon & Prince private events venue (previously, it had been his own restaurant, Le Foret), didn’t go predictable, either. Oft-seen bottles are wonderfully scarce.
Having recently visited visionary vintner Gérard Bertrand at his Languedoc home near Narbonne in France, I was especially pleased to fine the Bertrand Cuvée Thomas Jefferson Cremant de Limoux Brut offered by the glass and the bottle. I love Limoux bubbles, and this one couldn’t be more perfectly suited for the restaurant, which pays culinary homage to executive chef/partner Drake Leonards’ Cajun roots in Eunice, La.
Why? Because the Louisiana Purchase was completed in 1803 during Jefferson’s presidency. Jefferson, of course, was a Francophile through and through and was a serious collector of French wine. But the only sparklers found in his cellar after his death were bottles from Limoux, the hilly region south of Carcassone near the Pyrenees where the Benedictine monks of the Abbey of Saint-Hilaire discovered prise di mousse, which is to say fizzy wine, in 1531, predating Dom Perignon’s far more famous story in Champagne by more than a century and a half.
Because the favorite local grape variety of the day, blanquette, tended not to ferment completely, once the wine was transferred to barrels or bottles the yeasts would reactivate and resume turning sugar into alcohol. But, like other modern Limoux sparklers, Bertrand’s Thomas Jefferson is made utilizing the same methods in place in Champagne and is predominantly chardonnay (70 percent). Chenin blanc and pinot noir make up the rest.
As for Eunice’s wine list, the 32-year-old Smith says, “It’s built to highlight the freshness of the menu. Bright and clean wines pair amazingly well with fresh oysters and seafood, so we work to provide the best of the best with a variety of blends. I look for passionate producers that allow the wine to become what it’s meant to be and reflect the territory it’s derived from.”
Wine philosophy/list: Luke Smith went to great lengths to support producers who aren’t household names to anyone except serious oenophiles. Bottle prices range from the mid$30s to $800 for the 2015 Colgin Cellars IX Estate Red. About a third of the selections sell for $100 or less. Fifteen wines are offered by the glass from $8 to $18. One of Smith’s favorites: 32 Winds Rosé of Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 2017
Why: He says the wine “was inspired by the region’s foggy mornings that helped cool the fruit and lend a Burgundian character to the resulting flavor. The subtle but aromatic rosé is filled with crisp notes of strawberry, white cherry and rhubarb that give the taste a gentle acidity and perfect brightness — sounds like summer in a glass!” Winemaker Matt Taylor, a widely traveled vintner whose collaboration with 32 Winds owner Ed Mascarin began in 2016, brought only 155 cases to market. The “32 Winds” are the eight major winds, the eight half-winds and the 16 quarter-winds represented on what’s called a navigational wind rose.
Pairing: Smith says the stainless-steel-aged rosé “is the perfect group dinner bottle to enjoy with our seafood platter.”
Price: $130 for a magnum