The red cuvées from Clos Rougeard are iconic as very possibly the definitive representation of pure Cabernet Franc (see https://wordpress.com/post/winespecific.com/2492). There has been no change in that position since the Foucault brothers sold Clos Rougeard in 2017 to the Bouygues (who own Château Montrose in Bordeaux). Jacques-Antoine Toublanc, who had been a consultant to the Foucault brothers, took over winemaking to maintain continuity, and then handed over to Cyril Chirouze in 2022. In addition to the three red cuvées, there is a single cuvée of white, which comes from Brézé, possibly the best site for white wine production  in the Loire.

The wines of the Château de Brézé were so well known historically that they had their own description as Chenin de Brézé. An elevated site, sitting on a hill of tuffeau (local limestone), Brézé is dominated by the Château de Brézé, and when the AOC of Saumur-Champigny was established in 1957, its owner, Comte de Colbert, demanded that Brézé should have its own AOC because its terroir was so superior. Because of the poor quality of the wines—“an entire century of relatively terrible wines from one of the best sites in the Loire,” was one description—the demand was refused, and M. le Comte then declined to be included in Saumur-Champigny. As a result, the red wines as well as the whites are classified only as Saumur.

Today’s best white wine from Brézé is no doubt Clos Rougeard’s, with great purity of fruits offering a wonderfully savory impression of Chenin Blanc, with a steely minerality that’s reminiscent of Puligny Montrachet when it is young.. It is almost as difficult to obtain as the top red, Le Bourg, as both come from plots where only about 1 ha is in production (Le Bourg was recently increased by purchase of an adjacent plot, but which is not yet in production).

Brézé has had more change of style than the reds. Until 2007, Brézé used to get close to 100% new oak. In 2007/2008 the Foucaults started to decrease the new oak, and today it is about one third. The wine ages for 1 year before it is bottled (a year before the reds). “With climate change, it is important to keep the fresh style of Brézé,” Cyril says. 

Jacques-Antoine felt that Brézé had become too Burgundian in style and should return more to its roots in the Loire. “In red winemaking, we are following exactly the Foucault brothers, but for the whites the wine could be a little lactic. The brothers often weren’t ready to pick at the right time, and they used to pick late. Nady always said you should find everything from citrus to over-ripe in the Brézé. Some years it was too heavy for me. I’m not happy to make Burgundy, I want to get the typicity of Chenin, I want to get freshness,” Jacques-Antoine said. 

As we started a tasting of 2019-2017 when I visited two years ago, Jacques-Antoine said ruefully, “Our tasting now is a bit like infanticide. At home, I open the wine a day ahead and put it in a decanter.” He added that because of an oversight, on one occasion  a Brézé white was left open in the fridge for 3 weeks and was then even better. “It holds for 6 weeks, it goes off a little after 7 – but it’s not very practical for tasting.”

“The 2019 is typically what I would like to do every year, but it’s difficult. This is the new style, I would say,”  Jacques-Antoine said as we tasted it. The 2019 Brézé showcases the acidic character of Chenin, with a sense of tension that is exceptional, but it’s difficult to achieve every year. By contrast, the 2018, from a much warmer year, is a sort of halfway house between the new fresher style and older, more Burgundian style.

Cyril feels that Brézé reflects the era. “With regards to the style of Brézé, I don’t think it is a stylistic choice. They used to wait to have a ripe style in a period when ripeness was difficult to get. It’s a natural evolution in terms of adapting to climate change to try to get something fresh. Any change is not due to the ownership, it is an adaptation to changing climatic conditions.”

The style of Brézé reflects conditions of the vintage. In the last years of the Foucault brothers, the 2015 showed Burgundian generosity from a warmer vintage (you might argue whether it was more like Puligny or more like Meursault, but that would be irrelevant because basically Brézé is Brézé); then the cooler vintage of 2016 produced a leaner, more savory style that is absolutely definitive of Chenin Blanc in the Loire. 2017 varies from making a linear impression if the wine is very cool, to a a broader impression if it is a little warmer. Now we have to wait and see how the vintages post-Foucault will evolve.

Tasting Notes of Brézé (from tastings at Clos Rougeard and elsewhere since 2022)

2023
(Barrel sample) Fresh Chenin nose offers some savory impressions. Acidity is quite crisp on the palate. There are some slight impressions of oak. The harvest was ‘classical’ (ie.,in med-September, not early) and this certainly feels like a cooler clinate, fresher vintage. “I think we are going back to a fresher style of Brezé if you compare it with 2022, 2020, or 2018,” Cyril says. There is a saline tang at the end, in fact more of a saline impression than I remember on any previous vintage of Brezé.   90 Drink 2028-2036

2019

Savory nose of Chenin followed by mineral notes. The wine is quite tight at present, and this is definitely a fresher style than we have seen in the past. Faintly nutty at the end. Overall the style has more tension than it used to. This is a very definite style of Chenin.    92 Drink -2032.

2018

Softer impression to nose than 2019 but overlaid with sense of minerality following to the palate. This vintage is a halfway house between the styles (very flavorful and full-bodied, and the new style (fresher with more sense of tension). There’s an underlying richness, and you can just see the new oak. A saline catch at the end accompanies sme sweet herbal impresisons, and the finish is moving in a savory direction. It shows a perfect balance between fruity and savory 93  Drink 2026-2036.

2017

Nose is relatively restrained. Palate balances between fruity and savory with a lively sense of acidity, and shows the general tightness of the vintage. At the moment this is showing a tendency towards the sourness Chenin Blanc can express in leaner years, and it seems the least successful of trio from 2019 to 2017. A faint overlay of minerality is less obvious than in 2019.    90 Drink -2032.

2016

Relatively tight for Breze. In this cooler vintage you can see the savory acidity of Chenin. Smoky herbal impressions develop on the finish with a honeyed sense of viscosity in the background and a faint impression of curry. This cooler vintage is more Loire-like, flanked by the more Burgundian vintages of 2015 and 2017. The first signs of development show in a fugitive whiff of tertiary notes on the nose, although the palate stays fresh. 92  Drink –2032

2015

Medium golden color suggsts some age. A strong whiff of aromatics as the bottle was opened. Now at its peak with the faintest notes of oxidation really adding complexity. Deep palate shows perfect balance, This vintage strikes me as more like great old white Bordeaux than Burgundy wih something resembling the waxiness of Sémillon, and subtle, savory notes almost reminiscent of the garrigue. Acidity is balanced, a pointer to Chenin Blanc in a blind tasting would be a developing albeit slight sense of nuttinesss. Good weight to the body but a really subtle impression on the palate, and hard to disentangle the various influences—savory versus fruity, nutty versus acidic. A great success for a vintage that might easily have become too rich in other hands. It is totally delicious. 94 Drink –2026.

2014

Age shows in some nutty notes and a faint cereal quality, also a little more indicative of Chenin Blanc than usual. Palate shows nuttiness from age adding to the usual minerality. Acidity comes out a bit more in the glass but is hidden by a sheen of viscosity. Very good, and excellent for the year, obviously not a top vintage, but the character of Bréze comes through. 90 Drink now.

2011

Color deepening, nose attractively herbal, giving savory impession, then quite mienral on palate, which is lean and linear with a touch of salinity. It is at its peak and completely delicious. Long saline aftertaste even has hints of caramel and honey. Very complex and a fantastic result for an indifferent vintage.  93 Drink –2025.