Loire Valley Classic Cabernet Franc Prestige Dozen

A rare opportunity to explore some of the finest Cabernet Francs of the Loire Valley, including the mythical Clos Rougeards from Saumur.

Each Dozen contains one bottle each of (RRP):

• Etienne Bodet Saumur Clos Durandière 2022 ($233)

• Fabien Duveau Saumur-Champigny Chacé Bas Poyeux 2022 ($76)

• Fabien Duveau Saumur-Champigny Chacé Les Hautes Poyeux 2021 ($94)

• Domaine du Bel Air Bourgueil Les Marsaules 2021 ($118)

• Château de Coulaine Chinon La Diablesse 2020 ($96)

• Yannick Amirault Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil Les Malgagnes 2020 ($95)

• Yannick Amirault Bourgueil Pavillon du Grand Clos 2022 ($138)

• Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny 2020 ($377)

• Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeux 2020 ($655)

• Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny Le Bourg 2020 ($765)

• Arnaud Lambert Saumur St-Cyr-en-Bourg Clos Moleton 2019 ($129)

• Arnaud Lambert Saumur Brézé Clos de L'Etoile 2019 ($138)

Total Pack Value - $2914

Clos Rougeard

To say that this property has become a cult estate is an understatement with sommeliers and restaurants the world over clambering to buy the wines or visit the estate, an almost impossible task to arrange even for us as the importers. The Foucault family had been quietly producing tiny quantities of wines from the same small plots of vines in Saumur and Saumur Champigny that the family owned and farmed for generations, with the notable exception of the purchase in 1993 of 1 hectare of very old vines in Brézé. Perhaps it was the addition of this tiny plot of ancient vines on the east facing slope of this historically great terroir of Brézé that has bought the worlds attention to this estate, such is the beauty and rarity of this wine.

Farming organically without the use of modern fertilisers and systemic chemicals and replanting with massale selection of vines and giving the wines very long ageing in barrels and then also in bottle before releasing each new vintage ensured that the wines would show their best upon release. Not only was it this ‘slow wine’ method of production that had appeal, but very simply these wines are among the greatest to be found in France. These are wines of rare breed and texture and complexity for the white Brézé (which, with age, is often compared to great white Burgundies) and also for the small 1 ha patch of very old Cabernet Franc vines located in Chacé that makes the iconic ‘Le Bourg’ red. Just 4000 bottles are produced of each of these 2 wines in a good year - and the demand from wine lovers around the world is enormous.