Your cart
There are no more items in your cart
Saumur Blanc Breze 2016 Clos Rougeard
Saumur Blanc Breze is a sulphite-free natural wine, one, if not "the" best white wine in the Loire, pure Chenin Blanc.
In just a few years, Le Clos Rougeard has become one of the most iconic and renowned wines of the Loire, and indeed of France.
Although this reputation is recent, the vineyard is anything but. Jean-Louis and Bernard, the 'Foucault brothers', are the eighth generation to work on this family property.
The vineyards are located in Chacé, between Tours and Angers, and cover 10 hectares in the Saumur and Saumur Champigny appellations. The incomparable quality of the estate's wines is due in large part to its extremely exacting viticultural standards, which date back at least to the 1960s, with organic growing methods practised even before the term had any official meaning. However, the estate has never sought official certification.
Its vineyards have never been touched by chemicals, which makes them the perfect expression of the complexity of their terroir. The wine is vinified with as little intervention as possible and the élevage lasts at least two years. The company produces six cuvées, two of which are white. At the end of December 2015, Jean-Louis "Charly" Foucault died and the estate was purchased by Bouygues.
The wines produced before this acquisition are now collectors' items. If individual years permit, the estate produces three red wines, including two specific selections from each parcel: Les Poyeux, a very full-bodied but refined wine, with a beautiful dark ruby colour; and Bourg, a gritty and dense wine, which undergoes an élevage of 18-24 months in new oak barrels.
As for the whites, the Brezé cuvée is now one of the best white wines of the Loire Valley.
DENOMINATION: Saumur AOC
REGION: Loire (France)
GRAPES: 100% Chenin Blanc
VINIFICATION: 18-24 months in new barrels.
