2015 Clos Rougeard Saumur "Brézé" Blanc, Loire Valley, France

Product information

ABOUT THIS WINE:

Rougeard’s mythic white is made from Chenin Blanc grown in the hallowed Saumur Blanc terroir of Brézé, a unique slope of sandy clay and limestone. Curnonsky—France’s most celebrated 20th century gastronomic writer—considered Brézé the rival of the great Chardonnay vineyards of Burgundy. Here, the Foucault brothers tended their 60+year-old Chenin Blanc vines organically, just as their ancestors had all of the domaine’s vines, long before it became trendy to do so. And they always allowed the Brézé cuvée’s style to be determined by the vintage, which for the versatile Chenin Blanc in the central Loire could be Sec, Demi-Sec and even Moelleux, depending on the growing season. Aged in 20% new barrels, and rarely finishing malolactic fermentation, Clos Rougeard Brézé is a uniquely complex and long-lived expression of its great terroir.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER:

Clos Rougeard is an esteemed wine estate in Saumur-Champigny near the village of Chacé in the Loire Valley. The estate was taken over by Bernard and Charly Foucault in 1969, but had been in their family since 1894. Clos Rougeard has become famous as a cult producer because of the high quality and extremely limited release of its wines – around 2500 cases annually. All of its wine is sold by allocation only, mostly to restaurants, and very little outside of France. Clos Rougeard produces only four wines: a single white wine from 100-percent Chenin Blanc called Saumur Blanc Breze, and three 100-percent Cabernet Franc reds – Saumur Champigny Le Clos, Les Poyeux, and Le Bourg. Terroir and history are especially important to Clos Rougeard.