Vatan and Clos Rougeard Dinner

Six of us descended on Ripple in Washington DC on a snowy Spring evening to partake in a dinner featuring two of the very best Loire Valley producers; Clos Rougeard and Vatan

• 2011 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Clos la Néore

  France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre

  The 2011 is a youthful wine that is drinking very well for a young Vatan. The nose is more herbal than grassy with the typical flinty notes. Hints of fennel and even spring onion emerge on the palate. The finish is mineral and while not as long as the 2008 very pleasurable. The 2011 can easily develop in the bottle but I would consider more of a midterm ager than say the rich 2005 and the stony 2008.

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• 2008 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Clos la Néore

  France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre

  This wine was the most restrained upon opening. However, with time in the glass this became the group's favorite of the Vatan blanc flight. Again the palate showed great rich texture before diving into the very mineral laden finish. The 2008 has excellent balance of fruit, minerality and acidity. This wine will last a very long time and will be very interesting to follow its integration. If one opened this in the near term I would suggest decanting.

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• 2005 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Clos la Néore

  France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre

  The 2005 offered up a rich and pungent nose of grass, herbs and some flinty smoke flavors. The palate was rich and expansive with hints of more exotic fruit. This wine could clearly age for much longer but was an absolute pleasure to taste now. It is nice to see how Vatan perform from riper vintages showing plenty of acidity to allow the fruit to integrate over an extended cellaring period

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• 2005 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur Blanc Brézé

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Saumur

  This wine took hours to show anything but when it started to emerge at the end of the evening it developed quite nicely. Rich fruit on the nose with no noticeable oak. The palate was rich and long with nice minerality emerging. This clearly needs time to develop before a more hearty examination is possible.

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• 2003 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Rouge

  France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre Rouge

  Incredible nose of bright cherries and earthy soil notes. The vintage clearly shows but in a wonderfully fruity way that is very balanced by the mineral undertones. I have only had 2 Vatan rouges and each time the terroir is highly transparent even in a ripe vintage such as 2003. This was a real treat to taste

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• 2006 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Saumur-Champigny

  This was showing the most youthful and rightfully so. The wine clearly needs aging but the components are all there for this to be a great bottle of wine. The character is brambly with dark fruits with some hints of cherry as well. The nose was by far the most intriguing element at present but clearly the palate and finish will evolve to match as the intensity is there but still youthful

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• 2004 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Saumur-Champigny

  Excellent balance of fresh fruit and the emergence of secondary notes. Still outside of its drinking window but by the end of the evening this wine, for me, competing with the 2001 for WOTN. The tannins have really begun to fold into the excellent finish. I was very pleased with this wine and it was a pleasure to go back and forth between this and the 2001.

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• 2003 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Saumur-Champigny

  Clearly the ripest of the quartet showing even some hints of balsamic on the nose but in a pleasurable non-flawed way. Notes of richer, redder berries on the palate with more cocoa notes. The finish had pleasurable cedar and herbal underpinnings. Obviously Clos Rougeard but the vintage is still standing out at this point.

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• 2001 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Saumur-Champigny

  On opening this still show some nice primary fruit on the nose but later in the evening notes of brine, cocoa and by the end of the evening even tertiary notes of white flower came through. The palate was very much excellent Cabernet Franc with darker berries mingling with a roasted vegetable note. The finish was stunning with very nice tilled soil note. Many rated this as their WOTN

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The food and service were up to Ripple's exacting standards. All of the wines showed very well with only one exception. A 2002 Vatan was not reviewed as the group decided that provenance may have been an issue. 3 bottles were purchased on clearance from a local wine store less than a year prior and of those 3 bottles only one has shown well. The wine tasted tired with oxidized notes. A 2001 Vatan of perfect provenance I tasted less than 2 months ago confirmed in, my mind at least, that this is a storage issue and not premox.