2006 Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeux

The Foucaults’ 2006 Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeux is decidedly gamy in the nose, with concentrated blackberry and cassis as well as beet, rhubarb, sweet pea, brown spices, black tea, and dark leafy green notes, a remarkable combination that has me imagining a Cabernet Franc – Gruner Veltliner co-fermentation! Firmer, brighter, and more austere than the corresponding regular Clos bottling, this also displays saline, peaty, iodine mineral depth, all of which will set it in good stead for another 5-7 years of bottle aging, during which it is likely to retain its striking complexity while taking on a more flattering textural patina. It was possible for me to garner only a limited perspective on recent vintages when I visited in June at Clos Rougeard (for more about which, see my report in issue 172). The 2009s had not entirely completed malo-lactic fermentation, but Nadi Foucault – who compares them with 1990s, and 2005 with 2009 – proudly showed them off; and no wonder, as they display awesome potential and a richness unprecedented in my experience of Loire Cabernet Franc, yet without going overboard or (as it appears at this early stage, anyway) suffering any ill-effects from high alcohol. The Foucault brothers’ 2008s had barely finished their malo-lactic transformations ahead of the 2009s and were themselves not only gassy but resistant to scrutiny, while the 2007s had just recently been disturbed by assembly into tank in preparation for bottling, in which state the Foucaults were loath to show them. (Notes on the estate’s recent whites can -- in the print edition of this report – be found in my parallel report: “Anjou and Saumur: Nobly Sweet and Nobly Dry.”) Importer: Louis/Dressner Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 334 8191