TN: CLOS ROUGEARD

2008 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Saumur-Champigny (5/25/2015)

On the nose and palate incredibly pure and fresh ripe dark fruit. The underlying structure is intense and refined, with remarkably integrated tannins. Ending long with hints of stones and sweet tobacco. A revelation!

Posted from CellarTracker

And that is the “least” of their 3 reds…

They’re very good. And now also very expensive. And hopefully they are very ready for my forthcoming visit in a couple of weeks.

by “pure”, do you mean to insinuate there’s no brett?

Clean, with no discernible defects; refers to aroma, appearance and flavor!

that’s encouraging!

Welcome to the dark-side…unfortunately the prices have doubled on the Rougeard line up in the last year or so…so then you move to Marc Plouzeau ante phylloxera, though it’s not quite at the Rougeard level. The Plouzeau profile is a bit different but still high quality Cab franc.

I had the 2010 Clos Rougeard a couple of weeks ago, and my experience was similar to Barry’s with the '08. Not a whiff of Brett and the word that jumped to mind was “pure”. Here’s my note:

Already a delicious bottle of wine. Lovely clean nose with notes of green pepper and tart red fruit undergirded by a fine vein of graphite. Delicate and silky mouthfeel combined with great depth of flavor. A transparency that reminds me of drinking from a pure mountain stream. We finished the bottle in one sitting, which is something we haven’t done in years. 12.5% abv

I had an '04 that I loved several years ago…I’d love to find more. Yet I’m not willing to pay the now crazy prices.

Any thoughts on decanting approach if baby killing a 2010 now?

Clayton, I had a 2010 “regular” wine a couple of months ago, off a restaurant wine list, so opened at the table for dinner. It was quite delicious right out of the gate, and gained some interest after an hour or so. I’d say an hour or so decant would be good, probably not more than that.

Yeah it was off a restaurant wine list that I had my eye on - a very reasonable $108. Was just trying to figure out whether it was worth calling to get them to decant in advance, or pop and pour. May just pop in pour if it shows quite well off the bat.

I need to start going to the same restaurants as you both. I don’t think I’ve seen Clos Rougeard on a list.

The only way I’d open a 2010 is if it was on a restaurant list. If the bottle was in my cellar, I’d let it sit and mature as I love these wine with age on them.

In late 2013, I saw and ordered a bottle of 2006 Les Poyeux off of the list at Nice Matin in UWS NYC for, as I recall, $120. There was also a 2007 Le Bourg for $170.

Montrose confirms Clos Rougeard acquisition,

Drank this bottle last night and it had no brett either, very clean and enjoyable.
I’d like to see where it goes in 5 year and then 10 years

The '05 last week was just beautiful. Clean and poised. Made me forget the '85 Raffault Picasses also on the table.