Wines

This 100% Chenin Blanc vin mousseux is almost always from a single vintage and is left on the lees for at least 48 months before it is disgorged. Frequently, the grapes used to create this sparkling wine are harvested from the younger vines at an earlier stage of the season so as to preserve a particularly high level of natural acidity. Depending on production levels the Vouvray Brut can rest on the lees even longer than the minimum of forty-eight months, thus providing even more richness and complexity.

In rare vintages, conditions are so favorable that Philippe Foreau makes a separate cuvée of sparkling wine that specifies the vintage from which it is born. In this case, the vin mousseux remains on the lies for sixty months or more and, upon release, the exceptional qualities of Chenin Blanc from the best sectors of Vouvray handled by a true master of the craft are manifest!

When Foreau issues a “Sec” (and the decision to do so relates entirely to the vintage conditions and the composition of the grapes at harvest), the wine can carry from 1 to 2 grams of residual sugar but never more than 6 grams. Because of the vibrant acidity that accompanies these wines, the sensation one experiences is of drinking a scintillatingly dry wine, although one with considerable body and a honeyed texture.  We tend to have several vintages available at all times so that our clients can have the option of enjoying the Vouvray Sec in its youth but also with several years of bottle age.

Foreau does not produce a Demi-Sec every year. All depends on the level of ripeness at time of harvest. When a Demi-Sec is released by the domaine, it can carry somewhere between 8 and sometimes as much as 20 grams or so of residual sugar but, more often than not, a Foreau Demi-Sec will be at the 8 to 12 grams RS level. Obviously, each year develops from its own unique circumstances. As indicated in the general description above, Foreau NEVER chapitalizes to achieve the Demi-Sec level and malo-lactic fermentations are never permitted to occur. All still wines at Foreau are bottled during the spring season following the harvest.

The Moelleux cuvées are made in vintages when at least a portion of the vineyards produce grapes that carry significant levels of natural sugar. Botrytis sometimes occurs but it is not necessary in order to declare a Moelleux. Conditions of “passerillage”, that is extended exposure of the grapes to sun and high luminosity, create the impetus to release wines as Moelleux. Wines so declared can carry formidable leves of residual sugar: 25 grams is perhaps the minimum but more often the Moelleux at the Foreau domaine has 35 or 50 or sometimes even 80 or 90 grams of sugar left in the wine. The goal is to create a wine that is in perfect balance, maintaining a proper level of acidity while keeping the ultimate alcohol level under control.

It is the rare vintage that is blessed with the conditions necessary for Foreau to release a Moelleux Réserve. Wines so declared frequently have levels of residual sugar that are in excess of 150 grams of residual sugar. It is not, however, simply the level of ripeness that creates the Moelleux Réserve; it is as much the conditions of the growing season that produce grapes that have a level of complexity and ripeness that demand this sort of classification. An error that many make in assessing and utilizing these wines is to consider the sugar quotient as a disqualifier for use of this wine during any stage of a meal. Our experience is such that these wines can marry well with a wide range of dishes served at the beginning, middle or end of a meal. Recent vintages that have seen the release of a Moelleux Réserve are: 2015, ’09, ’05, ’03.

While the Moelleux Reserve is produced only a few times a decade, the Goutte d’Or is produced only a few times a century. Made only under the choicest conditions, the Goutte d’Or is a beacon of perfection. In the 94 years that the Foreau family have been producing wine, there have been only four vintages with conditions favorable enough to produce this high-water mark: 1947, 1990, 2011, and 2015. Carrying 170 grams of sugar, the Goutte d’Or is incredibly elegant at this early point. The fruit is sweet, the color a vibrant gold. It is almost a crime to try to describe what is inside this dense wine. At the moment it shows a range of fruit from fresh pear to dried dates and honey comb. The texture is silky and rich, with a mineral core of acidity hiding a lot of the wine’s potential. This is a wine that will require time to develop and reward collectors well into the future. Only 20 cases imported.