2020 Domaine des Closiers Les Coudraies

Ahh… do you remember the glory, the beauty, the deliciousness of Clos Rougeard?

Probably not. And here is why:

Clos Rougeard is and was a property in Samur Champigny, France making Cabernet Franc. When I first started selling their wines, they were between $19 and $29 dollars a bottle. When I stopped selling it (only because I couldn’t get it), their Cabernet Francs were around $300 a bottle. Case in point – I had some on the shelf at the Brady Street store once, and a customer asked me “am I allowed to buy this?” But of course…

Like many things in wine, the deepest regret is not buying and drinking more before the wine was “hot”. Clos Rougeard is, and was, amazing. It exists in that miniscule field of wine producers that when you taste them, they make every other producer taste like they aren’t even playing the same game, i.e., they’re so good that they just might send you on a lifetime side-quest to find and drink more, and as much as you can. That was (and is) Clos Rougeard – Loire Valley Cabernet Franc like no other and like nothing else.

But you can’t have any, and as I mentioned before, it’s gone up in price to the point of being not-very-accessible.

Given all this, you can imagine my surprise when this bottle of wine crossed my desk – Domaine des Closiers Les Coudraies Saumur Champigny Cabernet Franc.

What is the connection?

Not the headline – “the second coming of Clos Rougeard”. But not only that, you’re getting a power trio of Loire producers -  Nady Foucault, winemaker and owner of Clos Rougeard, Michel Chevré of Clos de l’Ecotard, and Thierry Germain of his eponymous estate.

Now I realize that digging into famed, cult, Loire winemakers is a bit like digging into the underground Minneapolis music scene circa 1978. But hey, none other than PRINCE was born and raised by that scene. And if you can’t dig Prince, you probably shouldn’t be diggin’ Loire Cabernet Franc. 💜

Long story short, this wine is stupidly good, and stupidly good now, and will continue to be for many years in your cellar. It’s a Loire-game-changing experience; it’s gonna pick you up and move you right on over to a better place. We got a super-limited allocation (because boo-hoo, Madison took most of it [thank goodness we have a Madison store on the way!]). So try and secure yours right away, and without hesitation.