Clos Rougeard - Brézé 2014
Clos Rougeard is a renowed wine estate based close to the village of Chacé, in Saumur-Champigny. The estate was taken over by Bernard and Charly Foucault in 1969 but had been in their family since 1894. Clos Rougeard is well-known for the extremely limited wine production (around 2,500 cases each year) of very high quality. All its wine is sold by allocation only, and we got lucky to get some!
Clos Rougeard produces only four wines: Brézé, Le Clos, Les Poyeux and Le Bourg. The Foucault brothers' approach to their wine is fundamentally one of minimum intervention, extremely low yields, no chemicals or pesticides, hand-harvested fruit, natural yeasts, no filtering, no fining, and gravity bottling after up to 24 months in oak.
Brézé is probably the best-known white wine in the Saumur region. This cuvée comes from a 1.5 hectares of Chenin Blanc plot, on the soil of the Grand Cru limestone of Brézé. The 2014 vintage is the current Foucault brothers' vintage. It offers excellent aging potential and will reveal all its complexity for the next 20 years.
Grape variety: 100% Chenin Blanc