Clos Rougeard

The Clos Rougeard Cabernet Franc vineyards are located in the heart of the Saumur tufaceous plateau, a deep limestone bed covered with different surface layers. In contrast, the Chenin Blanc vineyards of the Bréze estate are located on calcareous-clayey marls, long considered ideal for Saumur blanc. From their Cabernet Franc terroirs, the Foucaults made three cuvées, starting with the bottling of the Le Clos blend, sourced from 50-70 year old vines in the villages of Chacé, Varrains and Dampierre. Les Poyeaux instead is born from half-century vines in a south-facing plot of eroded sandstone on tuff, adjacent to the deep cellar in their home village of Chacé. Finally, the iconic Le Bourg comes from vines with an average age of 80, planted on a thin layer of clay over a deep bed of tuff, also in Chacé.

The combination of vine age and richer soil makes this wine the most powerful structure in the Clos Rougeard range. All three reds are crafted based on an approach championed by generations of Foucault. As Nady Foucault famously quoted: “The only revolution at the Clos Rougeard is that we haven’t changed a thing!” All the reds ferment thanks to native yeasts for 4-6 weeks and then go through a maceration in open-air cement tanks, with delicate extraction. This is followed by aging for 18 to 24 months in small barrels, which according to Nady has long been the Saumur tradition. The key to their deep yet elegantly structured character is the exclusion of press wine. The character of each of the red wines determines both the duration of the barrel aging and the use of new barrels. The woods are all neutral for Le Clos; one year for Poyeaux and new ones for the very powerful Le Bourg.