Clos Rougeard Les Poyeux 1997
Posted on 7 May 2012
I’m a big fan of Loire red wines. And I also like them aged. Olga Raffault’s 1983 is one of the best Cabernets I’ve ever tasted, and I have many 1989s and 1996s in my cellar that are still going strong. Recent excellent bottles of (semi-)aged Cabernet include Pierre-Jacques Druet’s Grand Mont 2000, Olga Raffault’s Chinon Les Picasses 2003, as well as Thierry Germain’s exciting young simple Saumur.
Well, just a bit too old.
It was with tremendous excitement, therefore, that I took a pour of Clos Rougeard Les Poyeux 1997 at a friend’s house recently. Clos Rougeard might well be the most prestigious Cabernet Franc producer, or at least the most expensive and hard to find. I’ve only once tasted their wines before, including the coveted Le Bourg. Retailing at 40–50€ these wines are hard finds, let alone an aged vintage like this.
But the wine disappointed. It was short; it was flat; it showed signs of age without showing complexity and depth. There was also an odd and not very attractive combination of overripe and underripe: Cabernet Franc herbaceousness was there in high proportion, with notes of bell pepper and parsley, and at the same time the acidity was low, freshness was lacking, and the whole tasted a bit soupy from the hot 1997 vintage.
Perfect cork, unlike the wine.
The bottle did taste a little premature, as if kept in imperfect conditions, though I’ve had a number of spotless bottles from the same cellar. As it were, this Clos Rougeard failed to thrill, indicating that it’s perhaps time to check your 1997 red Loires if you still have any.
Disclosure
Source of wine: from a friend’s private cellar.