Clos Rougeard, 2014 Saumur-Champigny

No.24 | What's In My Glass

Jun 15, 2024

Bonjour à tous! I am back in the Loire for a brief visit for La Paulée d’Anjou on Monday. For my first meal in the region, I journeyed to Angers for a much overdue visit to Gribiche. I first dined at this Michelin Bib Gourmand gem two years ago and I’ve been dying to go back ever since. Chef-owner Alex Tessier is not only a masterful chef who makes some of the best pâté en croûte I’ve ever had in my life, he is a true bon vivant, generous host, and a passionate wine lover. He has curated a superb, well-priced wine list that features some of the great vignerons from the Loire and beyond, including many of the sought-after/cult/hard-to-find selections that oenophiles yearn for. And on Friday evenings, the last service before they close for the weekend, chef offers a tasting menu of all of the week’s dishes for around 56 euros - a veritable bargain if there ever was one.

While there was oodles of Cabernet Francs to choose from, chef was insistent that this trip needed to start with bang and that only the best would do - none other than Clos Rougeard. From the last vintage that Charly and Nady Foucault completed together from start to finish, the 2014 Le Clos, while still just a baby, ticked all the boxes for me on this night - evolving beautifully over the course of several hours and pairing seamlessly with every single dish on the menu.

From a handful of the domaine’s parcels across Chacé and aged in older barrels, on opening the wine was initially a touch reduced, but it began to open up after about 15 or 20 minutes of oxygen (I had a lovely Saumur Blanc from Jean-François Regnier to wet my whistle while waiting though!). Once the wine got comfortable in its own skin, there were three elements that really defined this cuvée from the beginning to the very last drop: red fruit, tuffeau, and spice.

On the nose, the wine exuded a host of red, sweet-tart fruits such as sour cherry, raspberry, red currant and red plum. Quite savoury and foresty in nature, the fruits were complemented by dried potpourri-like florals, underbrush and the glorious smell of a dark, damp tuffeau chalk cellar. This is the sort of wine that I would love to pour for someone who has not visited the Loire and been inside one of the regions many tuffeau caves, because this wine smelled exactly like that, and it was magnificent. The captivating perfume followed through on the palate, and was punctuated by bright, vibrant acidity and graceful, finely-woven, cashmere-like tannins. The palate was delicately spiced with compelling notes of anise seed, fenugreek, allspice and cardamom. And the wine’s tuffeau energy came through with a hint of a mushroom note on the palate as well.

Elegant, profound, mixing grace with power, this wine was absolutely seamless and was superbly balanced. One through line with this wine and all the bottlings of Clos Rougeard I’ve had the privilege to taste, is that while there is a certain grandeur and profundity to the wine that is evident in the glass, it always presents in way that feels humble, understated and eminently approachable. There is a reason why this domaine’s wines have become the North Star for so many. The world of Cabernet Franc will be forever better for the impact and influence the Foucault brothers work with this grape has had in the Loire and beyond.