Internationale du Gout - Vertical series #2: 6 Vintages of Clos Rougeard Poyeux

The self-styled Internationale du Gout gathered again following the epic 2024 Rayas and Jamet verticals.

Lots of admiration amongst the group for the singular wines of this Domaine, especially the ones crafted by Charly Foucault before his untimely passing.

The late afternoon gathering kicked off with sipping of 2 Mags of Bollinger Grande Annee 1990 and 2002 in the garden before we proceeded to the dinner table. A 6-course menu was devised by resident Chef Dany Tan which aim was not to overpower the delicate Cabernet Franc. The starter of Almond & Chutoro and the first dish of Morrels were washed away with the Champagnes and an a-propos encore bottle of white Loire brought by Melvin.

3 meat dishes followed with each paired to a flight of 2 wines. Chicken with the lighter medium-bodied of '11 and '12. Lamb was paired with the powerful '05 and the still primary '14. The Wagyu beef inherited the remaining vintages of '09 and '10 making for very contrasting adjacent vintages.

• 1990 Bollinger Champagne La Grande Année

  France, Champagne

  Magnum Bottle. Dark copper color. The mousse is still present and quite vivacious. Proper mousse and not 'perlant'. Butterscotch and oxidative notes. This is arguably at absolute peak now. The difference in color and oxidation level next to the GA '02 is striking suggesting aging is not linear but accelerating. The oxidative notes have become prominent and come in a palate mouthful backed by great drive and featuring a myriad of ancillary finer notes.

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• 2002 Bollinger Champagne La Grande Année

  France, Champagne

  Magnum Bottle. It feels primary compared to the '90 served beside it. Primary but mellowed as 10+ year of bottle aging post-disgorgement allows. The dosage is perceptible with a honeyed character on both nose and palate. Nothing flabby here though. There is a fantastic acidity nicely interwoven with a rich matter that feels still coiled up. It feels so different from the '90 and is much earlier on its aging arc. The fruit quality and balance suggests this will may surpass in time its older sibling. I shall be looking for more.

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• 2017 Domaine du Collier Saumur Blanc

  France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Saumur

  Lilac, lychee and sake on the nose. Melon. That was hard to pick as a 'cool kids' Chenin as it featured none of the uber-fashionable matchstick and flinty notes. Nose was full of personality ; palate more anonymous. Nice story-telling here in context of the Clos Rougeard vertical...the owner and winemaker of Domaine du Collier is the son of Charly Foucault and would have been expected to take the reins of Clos Rougeard.

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• 2015 Domaine François Cotat Sancerre Chavignol Rosé

  France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre

  Lots of praline. Felt like an Egly Rose without the bubbles. Very sapid and competent for many food pairings. Interesting.

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• 2011 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeux

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

  Oo ha the nose!!! Baked spices, candied nose that had me speculate for the shortest moment that some whole-cluster winemaking magic was at play! Foolish me, green elements are the last thing you want to bring to a CabFranc..Great poise and balance too. The nose made such a statement that most guests had this as their benchmark through much of the tasting. Probably the best wine for immediate drinking but this should not make old bones as the palate is the skinniest and it feels the furthest along on its aging arc.

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• 2012 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeux

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

  Table guests found it wanting next to the '11 and its amazing nose. They were paired on purpose though. They both hail from cool vintages. I found them very similar in build, texture and flavor profile. The nose of the '12 is not yet at the same level but that may still happen. There is more fruit and palate density. I feel this can be the better wine in a few years.

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• 2005 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeux

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

  This was an outlier together with the '09 showing the Loire riper side. Burly and meaty. Some brett notes and beef jerky. We may have judged this a bit unfairly considering it was served after a quick double decant which in hindsight worked wonders for the lighter fragrant years but likely shortchanged the denser more coiled-up wines. I had this wine blind before and it showed more exhuberent and complex ; doubtless the airing regime.

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• 2014 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeux

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

  Inky. Blue fruit. Felt very primary and strict with matt quality to the fruit. Brambles. The ripeness and thus the structure lie (with the '10) in the middle in a continuum that starts with the lithe '11 and finishes with the brutish '09. Great midpalate sap and a textural quality I have found on other '14 Loire, some Bdx and Mourvedre-based wines: a mini vein seems to be running through the wine dispensing micro water beads when you need them. This and the '10 were the wines I would have wanted to spend a full night with tracking evolution over hours. In the same league as the '10. May be the grandest in time. Glad I have this and the Bourg in the cellar.

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• 2009 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeux

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

  My caveat on serving conditions for the '05 apply here too so I do not want to give this wine short thrift. A comparative tasting can be most unfair and conclusions way too definitive. This was the biggest in a line-up with wines at peak and with screaming aromatics. I would like to revisit this in isolation or with extended bottle age.

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• 2010 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeux

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

  Between this and the '14 it is very close. Blue fruit. May a bit more power here but this is marginal. Pine needle and menthol on the nose and faint VA.
  I loved the bits i could discern here that oozed breed. I feel this was holding back though and may be would have benefitted from some decanting. Like the '14, the wine I wanted to take away to dissect to death over a few hours.

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There was quality all-around. Poyeux is a Janus-faced wine. It is distinctly medium-bodied, highly floral and exhibiting restrained bell-pepper and pyrazine notes in cool vintages. '05 and '09 showed the riper profile where the varietal expression is harder to discern and the wines speak less of their region (with caveat of what extended aging may reveal in these). '11 and '09 are lying on the 2 extreme ends of the scale. '10 and '14 are in a happy medium and I felt the 2 wines holding greatest aging potential.