Clos Rougeard at Noble Rot

by Wine Owners

Posted on 2016-04-19

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This extraordinary vertical of Clos Rougeard (1976-2010) was held at Noble Rot, courtesy of Jordi Orriols-Gill of Rare Wine Vintages. There were 23 wines served in total, accompanied by an excellent menu that played a fine supporting role to the wines.

Clos Rougeard Saumur Blanc Brézé	1993	Fresh, fruited, green fig nose, faint oxidative hints, bright attack yet waxy textured, threaded acidity and exceptionally persistent. Super long. Ridiculously mouthwatering. Desert Island stuff, like a tuning fork in its intensity.
Clos Rougeard Saumur Blanc Brézé	2000	Perfume and camphor nose, rose petals, a dry vermouth-like spirity-ness. Herbal and the freshness builds with almost the same supreme length as 1993
Clos Rougeard Saumur Blanc Brézé	2005	Quince nose. Sandalwood and white flowers. Enormous intensity, primary, coiled. Give it 10 years
Clos Rougeard Saumur Saumur-Champigny 'Les Poyeux'	1976	Corky nose, damp cardboard, metallic palate at first. Jordi reckoned this wasn't corked. He was right, after an hour it had cleaned up, Still, the second bottle for the other table had creamy fruit, and was lovely. The only below par bottle of the night as it turned out on our table - so we can count ourselves lucky.
Clos Rougeard Saumur Saumur-Champigny 'Les Poyeux'	1985	Dusty nose but this has energy and a progression that is proper. Lovely finish. Overall a highly strung wine. Trying hard to present a beautiful public face but the age-lines are there. On its downward descent.
Clos Rougeard Saumur Saumur-Champigny 'Les Poyeux'	1986	Animal, leathery nose, bright, mouthwatering a little dry in the mid palate, over the other side of its plateau. Lovely mouthwatering finish nonetheless. I hour later just a touch spirity but a little more integrated and a touch of alcohol on the finish now the fruit is fading. Past its best.
Clos Rougeard Saumur Saumur-Champigny 'Les Poyeux'	1988	Great herbal nose, with an anis background and a touch of game. Ah, this is more like it. Lovely density and progression, fantastic energy and enormous length. This has lovely poise.
Clos Rougeard Saumur Saumur-Champigny 'Le Bourg'	1989	Darkly perfumed nose, a touch of cedar, warm entry, licorice and a little spice, and the spice is tangible too with a heady mid-palate. Very satisfying. Lifted, blackcurrant leaf finish. Long
Clos Rougeard Saumur Saumur-Champigny 'Le Bourg'	1990	Red fruits and cedar nose, enormous energy and brilliant finish. Great length and more of an expression of Bordeaux that any other of the night thus far.
Clos Rougeard Saumur Saumur-Champigny 'Les Poyeux'	1993	Pure nose, heady and spiced, redcurrenty undercurrent. Velvety palate, sweet, a little taste of heaven. Supremely integrated with an elegantly veined length.
Clos Rougeard Saumur Saumur-Champigny 'Les Poyeux'	1994	Extremely pure nose of licorice and peppercorn, so very gently sweet and svelte, so silken and smooth. The perfect sweetness. Strawberries on the finish and then a mouthwatering pithy finale.
Clos Rougeard Saumur Saumur-Champigny 'Le Bourg'	1995	Damp wool and perfumed nose. Sheep dipped in Joy par Jean Patou! On the palate the wine delivers a knock out punch. Not sweet, not dry. Aromatic. Sappy (in the best sense of the word) fresh finish. Such shape to the wine. Haute Couture, shaped like an hourglass.
Clos Rougeard Saumur Saumur-Champigny 'Les Poyeux'	1995	Nose of pure seduction. Silky and cedary, liquory texture thanks to melted tannins. Fully resolved. Rose infused mid-palate, intensity without weight, vibrant, heady finish
Clos Rougeard Saumur Saumur-Champigny 'Le Bourg'	1996	Crystalline nose. Alluring organic nose like sleeping next to someone. Burgundian weight. Dark flashes of fruit, interspersed with brighter notes, like shafts of light. Vibrant and heady length. Tonight's expression of Burgundy and what an expression! Warm finish but the warmth does not come from alcohol. Visceral. Perfection. Sherbetty profile on the finish. This went so well with the gorgeous lamb served by the Noble Rot team.
Clos Rougeard Saumur Saumur-Champigny 'Les Poyeux'	1999	Delicate nose, fabulous aromatics, striking palate. Delightful fruitiness and exuberance with the prickliness of acidity on the finish.
Clos Rougeard Saumur Saumur-Champigny 'Le Bourg'	2000	Wood box nose, whiff of varnish, deep warm attack. Huge. Needs a bit more time.
Clos Rougeard Saumur Saumur-Champigny 'Les Poyeux'	2002	Yeasty, bready nose, tight entry, citrus fruit, grapefruit, big flavours, boisterous wine. Lovely dry finish. Lots of concentration. Young. Will be one for the future. Tremendous potential.
Clos Rougeard Saumur Saumur-Champigny 'Le Bourg'	2005	Spiced nose, oranges and mulberries. The warmth of Bourg, liquory texture, like a dry version of Cointreau. The orange in there continues into the finish.
Clos Rougeard Saumur Saumur-Champigny 'Le Bourg'	2007	Creamy nose, preserved lemons and white pepper, like a lemon posset - creamy attack, sticky ripe fruit, yet sherbetty on the mid palate. Very, very long.
Clos Rougeard Saumur Saumur-Champigny 'Le Bourg'	2008	Potential writ large. Enormous concentration. Pithy, really pithy. Rapier like focus. All about the future. It's impossible to pin down, with at first a dark finish, then a bright finish. Amazing undercurrent of intense fruit.
Clos Rougeard Saumur Saumur-Champigny 'Les Poyeux'	2010	Round, ripe fruit. Fruity and yeasty. Intense fruit, on the terrific attack. Sticky lip-smacking fruit, fresh and plenty of potential. Great focus, like a corsetted wine. Extraordinary length

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Clos Rougeard Le Bourg Saumur Champigny 2002 trade

by Wine Owners

Posted on 2013-12-03

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Clos Rougeard is a one-off compared with other Cabernet Franc wines produced in the Loire Valley. It is an estate that has been owned by the Foucault family for several generations. The current generation, brothers Charly and Nady, are strong advocates of organical farming. Slowly vinified in oak barrels, unfined and unfiltered, their wine challenge the traditionally held view of Saumur-Champigny being sappy, fruity luncheon wines.

The 2002 vintage of Le Bourg was traded this week at a price of £995 per 12, 44% below the current market price of £1778.52. Wild price variations are not unknown with the pricing of scarce for which demand is narrow. Bear in mind too it was long ago that the wine was selling for £30/bottle.

 Saumur-Champigny is often regarded as being under-rated and ‘good-value’. With recent qualitative improvements, and an established qualitative benchmark in Clos Rougeard, might we see growing international interest in Saumur’s Cabernet Franc wines ?

 

'The Foucaults' 2002 Saumur-Champigny Le Bourg displays a complex aromatic melange of machine, blackberry, smoked meat, resinous herbs, toasted nuts, sauteed mushrooms, flowers, and sweat. Sleek in texture, enormously rich and expansive in the mouth, yet retaining an invigorating core of acidity, it spreads salt and wet stone mineral traces, bitter black fruits and pungent herbs in the wake of its long, penetrating, juicy finish. I imagine this evolving into something like the glorious 1988 I was served on my recent visit. ' 92 points, Robert Parker, August 2007

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