A Celebrated Loire Wine Estate Changes Hands After Eight Generations
When I visited Clos Rougeard and met the legendary owner and winemaker Nady Foucault in 2002, I asked him how long his white wine could age.
“What year were you born?” he responded.
When I told him he said, “I don’t have one that old,” then disappeared into his wine library. He re-emerged holding a bottle of 1954 Saumur Brézé, a dry Chenin Blanc made by his father or his grandfather.
Nady Foucault at Clos Rougeard, 2002
I looked at the wine, then sampled it. To the eye and to the tongue it was still so youthful it could have been produced five years earlier. As rare and prized (and expensive) as each year’s release of this incredible white wine is, the wines that get the most attention are the estate’s red wines, made entirely from Cabernet Franc and carrying the appellation Saumur-Champigny.
The dirt-floor winery, walls were caked black by centuries of life, coiled down twisting ramps lined with old barrels for two or three stories, dimly lit with wines resting on either side awaiting bottling. The “reception” area ceiling had something sticking out of it, as I recall--pencils or men’s ties—I just can’t quite remember.
Barrels at Clos Rougeard, 2002
When I sampled through that year’s elegant red wines with Nady they struck me as having the soul of Burgundy. None of the typical herbaceous green notes or earthy flavors of neighboring wineries’ offerings were present. Instead, they were ruby-red, perfumed works of art, wines that would be at home with chicken and duck as much as beef and lamb.
From Left to Right: Nady Foucault, Randy Kemner, and the late Jonathan Waters, 2002
And it took years to get a few bottles allocated to us; Clos Rougeard only produced 4,000 bottles per year! The estate changed importers, and lucky for us, they selected a company we have worked with for over 28 vintages. I say lucky for us because now we get 6 bottles of each of these wines, not a lot by most measures, but more than most mortal wine shops can get their hands on.
Nady’s brother Charly died in 2015 and two years later the family sold the estate that had been in the family for eight generations to Martin and Olivier Bougygues, owners of celebrated Bordeaux chateau Chateau Montrose of Sainte-Estephe. They built a new state-of-the-art winery for Clos Rougeard, so gone are the dirt floors, the moldy ceilings and the unique eco-system of the Foucaults' magic cellar. To be honest, I know the wines are good because the vines are wonderful. Will the wines be magical after cellaring, like they were when Nady and Charly shepherded the estate? Only time will tell.
The wines we’re offering were made by Jacques-Antoine Toublanc who once ran the wine lab business in the Foucaults’ front yard. He was replaced in 2023 by Cyril Chirouze, and first reports under his new stewardship appear to reflect very, very well on the future of this iconic small estate.
Since we wish to offer you all the bottles we receive, we rarely get to sample these wines ourselves, so we have to rely on the wine press to offer descriptions. These are elite bottles, and though expensive, wine collectors can be proud to add them to their collections.
2019 Clos Rougeard Saumur Brézé $279.99 per bottle
“The 2019 Saumur Champigny is a ripe style showing the dry season yet retaining plentiful freshness. This is the result of very low yields, which are the combination of early budbreak and frost, followed up by drought. High skin to juice ratio led to a rather drying tannin, lending some hard grip to the long, scented finish.”--Rebecca Gibb, Vinous
2019 Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny $167.99 per bottle
“The 2019 Saumur Champigny is a ripe style showing the dry season yet retaining plentiful freshness. This is the result of very low yields, which are the combination of early budbreak and frost, followed up by drought. High skin to juice ratio led to a rather drying tannin, lending some hard grip to the long, scented finish”--Rebecca Gibb, Vinous
2019 Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeaux $253.99 per bottle
“A delicately fragrant expression of Cabernet Franc. There's a charming, silky start to the 2019 Les Poyeux , sitting pretty in the mouth. There's definite ripeness of fruit with a fondant-like softness on the mid-palate providing flesh, yet this wine remains light on its feet, focused and fresh. Aromatically lifted with a touch of balsamic, red cherry, blackberry, spice and black olive. The tannins have a tight pinch on the finish, perhaps caused by the year's drought or it may need more time...We'll see.”-Rebecca Gibb, Vinous
2018 Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeaux $242.99 per bottle
Clos Rougeard is arguably the finest red wine estate in the entire Loire Valley. The Cabernet Franc produced there has always had a Burgundian soul, and this rare bottling is evidence of that. “Evoking aromas of violet, smoke, peony and blueberries, it’s marked by evident carnal notes. Medium-bodied, long and fleshy, the wine is concentrated and layered with structuring tannins and a long, firm, somewhat dry finish.”—Yohan Castaing, RobertParker.com
2019 Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny Le Bourg $354.99 per bottle
“There's something of northern Rhône Syrah on the nose of the 2019 Le Bourg with its smoked meats and ripe red fruit plus a hint of menthol. There's always a succulence to this cuvée, showing completeness–everything is in its place. Excellent concentration of fruit from a frost-affected crop. Low yields and small berries also created plentiful of tannins that display a chalky sinew. Dry, long, scented finish with festive spice, smoked notes that come from the barrel.”--Rebecca Gibb, Vinous
2018 Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny Le Bourg $349.99 per bottle
"The 2018 Saumur Champigny Le Bourg from Clos Rougeard has a dark, somber bouquet of licorice, iris, flowers and dark wild berries. Medium to full-bodied, tense and chiseled, it’s broad with delicate calcareous dry extract and a firm, tense and tight finish with firm tannins."—Yohan Castaing, RobertParker.com