Clos Rougeard

Clos Rougeard is located in the Saumur-Champigny appellation, in the heart of the Loire Valley. The 10 hectares of vineyards surrounds the village of Chacé and are planted with Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc. Brothers Bernard and Charly Foucault (8^th generation) took control of the Clos Rougeard estate in 1969, but the estate had been in the Foucault family since 1894. The brothers are credited with bringing international recognition to the region with their wines, which reached cult status some twenty years later. After Charly passed away in 2015, his son, Antoine Faucault, took over the winemaking duties.

The estate produces four wines: three red wines are produced from 9 hectares of Cabernet Franc (Le Bourg, Les Poyeux, and estate Clos Rougeard) and one white wine from only 1 hectare of over 100-year-old Chenin Blanc vines (Brezé). All four wines are left to mature in a relatively high percentage of new oak barrels – the reds for between 18-24 months and the white wine for around 1 year.

All the wines have cult status and Clos Rougeard is widely known as being one of the most legendary Cabernet Franc producers in the world, but the white wine is, if possible, even more sought after than the reds, production being less than 300 cases a year. In total the estate’s production is less than 3,000 cases of wine per year, all of which is sold on allocation with very little leaving France.

Vineyards are organically farmed, with extremely low yield, and no use of agrochemicals or synthetic fertilisers. The winemaking recipe is one of minimal intervention with natural yeast and no fining or filtration.

In June 2017, Clos Rougeard was sold to the French construction magnates, the Bouygues brothers, (also owners of Chateau Montrose in Saint-Estephe), however the Faucoult family remains involved as consultants. 

We offer the following Loire from Clos Rougeard:

• Clos Rougeard Saumur Blanc Breze