tried for microvinification by dividing the big vats in half; Cyril has made the decision to replace the large vats with smaller ones, which seems logical enough. Such are the advantages of benevolent ownership.


Simplicity of purpose and purity of product Clos Rougeard covers 15ha (37 acres), with its four key labels spread over 20 plots. The soils are essentially clay and limestone, with a sandy topsoil; they differ subtly because the vineyards themselves are not contiguous but are all based in and around the small village of Chacé. In 2023 and 2024, a total of 2.6ha (6.4 acres) were acquired, small plots adjacent to both of the key vineyards (Le Bourg and Les Poyeux)—very fortunate purchases, according to Cyril, especially the one at Le Bourg, which is otherwise surrounded on all sides by the houses of the village. One thinks of Pessac-Léognan and is reminded of the etymology of the word Bourgeois. Relatively finite in scope, then, and relatively unchanged over


also in the Loire Valley. No lack of pedigree, then, with the bonus of genuine familial involvement (especially from Martin and Charlotte Bouygues), an involvement that does not extend to intervention in the modus operandi. The latter is left to the new (employed in 2023) estate manager, Cyril Chirouze, who joined Rougeard from Château des Jacques in Moulin-à-Vent. Overseeing all of the properties is Pierre Graffeuille, who is the general manager of Eutopia Estates and also closely involved in the winemaking at Château Montrose. The holding company is well named, it seems, and according to Pierre, has its philosophy “rooted in revealing the truth of terroirs”—a philosophy that he has certainly already put into practice at Château Montrose, judging by the phenomenal quality of its recent vintages. Cyril’s philosophy is equally clear: “We are pioneers, but we


never proselytize,” he says, citing specifically the respect for the single plots and the extended aging as two examples where laissez-faire can also be interpreted as a genuine respect for the terroir in question. Viticulture has followed a similar template, with only copper and sulfur, both used modestly, buoying what is essentially an organic approach. As for biodynamics, this extends to observing the tides and the moon but has not progressed as far as applying a cocktail of preparations to the land. Let the land do its own talking… Cyril maintains that he has merely helped the natural process. L’esprit paysan of the Foucaults may have


Above (from left): Richard Desouche, Clos Rougeard’s vineyard manager, working among the ancient vines in Les Poyeux; a slate sign in the tuffeau cellars below the winery; a hand-labeled bottle of the newly released vintage.


the years. Of the three red wines, Le Bourg and Les Poyeux are site-specific, the former more foursquare in style, the latter more silky. And then there is a blend, Le Clos, which borrows stylistically from both. The white wine is made from Chenin Blanc on a nearby plot at Brézé, which was bought in 1993; here there is a little more clay and north-facing vines on a slight incline. All four wines are vinified in concrete vats and then aged in barrels of differing age and provenance (there is a little kiss of human intervention), and are all maintained at a constant temperature in the tuffeau cellars beneath the winery. The new capacious installation fulfills the need for storage capacity for bottle aging, since the wines are not released before their sixth year. All relatively straightforward, with simplicity of purpose and purity of product key goals, as they always have been. A visit to the vineyards underlines the differences, however; Le Bourg is flat, urban, almost claustrophobic, whereas Les Poyeux is gently elevated, cushioned by a forest and bucolic. Does this mean that the wines themselves will pitch poetry against prose? Not at all, but the differences are immediately obvious. Les Poyeux’s 4.3ha (10.6 acres) comprise well-draining, aeolian sandy soils (one thinks again of Rayas) on a gentle slope; Le Bourg, first produced in 1988, now covers 3ha (7.5 acres), its soils consisting of a shallow, clayey silt (30in [75cm]) over a Turonian chalk terroir. Furthermore, the élevage for the two wines also differs, with Les Poyeux aged in barriques from Bordeaux (two years in one-year-old wood), and Le Bourg in barriques sourced more locally (two years in 80% new wood). To what extent, one may debate, do the differences (floral and silky versus more robust and powerful) derive from the sites as distinct from the subsequent élevage? An early tasting of the 2024s demonstrates that the differences are well embedded even before the oak has had an opportunity to forge a “new” identity. And for completeness, it should be noted that the Les Clos blend (15ha and 15 plots) naturally enough combines both of the soil types mentioned above and is also aged for two years. The white wine, Brézé, is located in the eponymous village and covers 1.5ha (3.7 acres), its soil, as observed, more influenced by clay. The wine is aged in barrels made by the cooper who also provides for Le Bourg, this time for a year only, with only 30% of the oak new. All the bottled wine is aged thereafter before commercial release, innate complexity given time to underscore itself four times over.


THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 87 | 2025 | 145


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