Clos Roche Blanche
This profile of Clos Roche Blanche, when I first penned it back in 2009, shortly after my return from a visit to the Loire Valley, initially set out to describe a domaine that was one of the region’s most iconic and, among a band of loyal followers, also one of the most-loved. At the time, proprietors Didier Barrouillet and Catherine Roussel (1954 – 2022) had for decades been turning out a variety of red and rosé wines of great freshness and joy, along with two whites which, while I always felt they were in a more idiosyncratic style than the red wines, were clearly no less appreciated.
My encounters with Didier Barrouillet and Catherine Roussel (pictured below), and with their wines, were always fleeting. I was privileged enough to visit the domaine, and to taste with Catherine in the cellars, although these were infrequent visits, the exception rather than the rule. Sadly the wines were always hard to come by in the UK, and so I rarely drank the wines at home. I soon realised why; the wines had plenty of fans, but these acolytes of impeccable taste mostly seemed to be located on the USA’s East Coast, and that is where most of the bottles seem to have been shipped. There were I think two very good reasons for the Clos Roche Blanche fever that stalked the streets of New York, one being the late Joe Dressner of Louis Dressner Selections, the other David Lillie of Chambers Street Wines. To their credit these two East Coast wine merchants knew a good thing when they tasted it, and they promulgated the wines of Clos Roche Blanche to their many clients. Before long there grew an army of followers ready to soak up seemingly whatever Catherine and Didier could produce. For UK drinkers it was, sadly, near impossible to get a look in.
