2009 Saumur Champigny

Tasted from multiple barrels (largely used Bordeaux First Growth and new handiwork from a local tonnelier), the materials for Clos Rougeard’s basic 2009 Saumur-Champigny – from parcels on relatively clay-rich soil – were gassy from recent completion of malo but a wonderful combination of fresh, tart-edged blackberry and elderberry; tobacco-, peat- and black tea-like smokiness; along with chalk and iodine made for an intensely aromatic, palate-staining show that finished with vibrant interaction of meats, juicy berries, and minerals. This combines verve and brightness with seamless richness and is apt to make for a wine that will demand at least a couple of years in bottle and be worth following for 6-8. The portion in new Loire barrels incidentally – and employing any new wood on this cuvee represents an experiment prompted by the vintage – was nearly black, sweetly ripe, but very firm in feel, and while seemingly full of pent-up energy, was surprisingly no more evolved than the wine from older barriques. 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

Tasted from multiple barrels (largely used Bordeaux First Growth and new handiwork from a local tonnelier), the materials for Clos Rougeard’s basic 2009 Saumur-Champigny – from parcels on relatively clay-rich soil – were gassy from recent completion of malo but a wonderful combination of fresh, tart-edged blackberry and elderberry; tobacco-, peat- and black tea-like smokiness; along with chalk and iodine made for an intensely aromatic, palate-staining show that finished with vibrant interaction of meats, juicy berries, and minerals. This combines verve and brightness with seamless richness and is apt to make for a wine that will demand at least a couple of years in bottle and be worth following for 6-8. The portion in new Loire barrels incidentally – and employing any new wood on this cuvee represents an experiment prompted by the vintage – was nearly black, sweetly ripe, but very firm in feel, and while seemingly full of pent-up energy, was surprisingly no more evolved than the wine from older barriques. Aug 2010, www.robertparker.com