iDealwine Auction Report: A done deal

In the first of a new series of auction updates in partnership with online merchant iDealwine, we consider a red wine from the Loire that’s proving an auction phenomenon.

WHO WOULD have thought five or six years ago that a red Saumur-Champigny would reach higher prices at auction than a great Bordeaux classified growth such as Palmer, Figeac, Léoville Las Cases, Cos d’Estournel or Conseillante?

But that’s been the case with the Loire’s Clos Rougeard, managed by brothers Charlie and Nady Foucault.One reason for its rise to prominence is the unchanged viticulture practiced by the Foucault family since the 1960s, which has always seen them take an organic approach to vine managment, when others were liberally applying chemicals to their vineyards.

One of the Foucault brothers explains: “In the 1960s, when our father saw others applying weed killers and pesticides, he immediately understood the danger this posed to the health and life of the soil. In the early 1970s, organic farming was not recognized by the ministry and most winegrowers thought we were nuts.

Today it’s the opposite! When you ask them, all winegrowers claim to practise organic farming, and even biodynamic, because it’s fashionable. “We refuse to have certification, because for centuries we have worked the same way! We do not want to take advantage of this craze for organic, our priority is that wine enthusiasts recognize that our wines are good. That’s it.” Because their plots have never seen even a drop of chemicals it is not surprising that the very old vines of Poyeux or Bourg express freely the complexity of their soil. And with such high quality grapes, winemaking techniques are simple and without special oenological interventions.

“The goal is to obtain wines that are both concentrated and fine,” says Nady Foucault. “And as we are lazy, we intervene as little as possible during the winemaking,” he adds, noting that all the wines are entitled to at least two-years ageing in troglodyte caves at 12 degrees Celsius, ensuring a slow evolution. The Foucaults produce four wines in total. In red, they make three pure Cabernet Franc wines under the appellation Saumur-Champigny. One is a generic red from the region, another is labelled Poyeux, after a superb gently sloping terroir, and then Le Bourg, which references a parcel of very old vines located in the village of Chacé.

In white, using the Saumur appellation, the Foucault brothers make a wine called Breze: a very chalky site that is regarded as the best terroir in the appellation for the Chenin grape variety. The quality of work by Foucault brothers, both in the vineyard and the cellar is such that there is never a poor vintage. Their wines are far ahead of all others, even when the year is difficult. Among the major achievements from Clos Rougeard are the 1989 and 1990 vintages – which are legendary for all red wines of the Loire – along with 1995 and 1996 (more solar in 1995 and more tense for 1996), along with the 2002 vintage, which gave wines of superlative smoothness. Although purists say there was too much heat in 2003, this is another great year, along with the excellent

harvests in 2005, 2009 and 2010, the latter being without doubt one of the greatest vintages to hit the market. It goes without saying that the wines of the area, particularly the Poyeux and Le Bourg can be kept for decades in good vintages.

The few who have visited the domaine know very well that Foucault brothers love to surprise their visitors by opening a 1947 or 1959! The quality of wines is found in the numbers: the price of the 1990 vintage Le Bourg has enjoyed an exponential increase over the last 10 years. This wine is currently sought-after by French fans but also other wine collectors across Europe. More recently, enthusiasts from the US market have also set their sights on the wines of Clos Rougeard, and it is this development that has really pushed prices upwards.