There’s been lots going on this week, so Sunday School is postponed.

I’ve recently fallen for a Cult Cab and I haven’t been able to shake it from my mind for days. It comes in a regular sized bottle, doesn’t have an imposing name, and costs significantly less than $500. The wine is the namesake label from Clos Rougeard, one from a long list of incredible wines I’ve been able to drink during my short tenure with Terroir Natural Wine Merchant.

I’m in the process of migrating back to Vancouver. Where better to spend the dry and sunny months? Plus, as I write this, there is budding hope for a lengthily playoff run for the Vancouver Canucks. While I’m saddened to say goodbye to both the passionate wine people I’ve met and the exponentially deeper selection of incredible and affordable wines, I’m excited about sharing what I’ve experienced and am optimistic about working towards inciting any change I can on our truly defeating liquor system.

So, what of this Clos Rougeard? It’s a small estate in the Saumur Champigny appellation of France’s Loire Valley and is made from everyone’s favourite Cabernet – Cabernet Franc. Now owned by the reclusive Foucault brothers, Nadi and Charlie, Clos Rougeard has been in the family for decades and has been farmed organically for just as long. Nadi has a moustache that most men would envy. There are a few red labels from different plots of land, all fermented in barrel and aged at various lengths with various levels of new oak. There’s also one white from Chenin Blanc called Brézé and it’s reputedly brilliant. Clos Rougeard is seen as the leading estate in Anjou-Saumur and makes some of the most exciting Cab Franc in the world.

The wine was much darker and more powerful than I expected, with a plush texture and glaring powdery tannins. Black current, dark chocolate, a slight malty stout character, and incredible length. The 2004 was still quite tight and is obviously born to handle age. It’s wine worth obsessing over and may cause you to sigh with contentment (it did for me anyways). This is just the basic cuvée. Put these wines on your radar!

One late night at Terroir, I was introduced to a great Vancouver rock band I’d never heard of called Superconductor. The early 90′s group combines melodic rock with metal and, excessively, was made up by six guitarists, two bassists and a drummer. What are they doing now? we wondered. Well, it turns out that Superconductor was lead by a guy named Carl Newman who went on to form another big band, one of the city’s most famous homegrown indie acts, called the New Pornographers. Many of you probably already knew this.

So with that…

Go Neko