Bernard Baudry started with a couple of inherited hectares in the early 1980s and built a reputation for precise, textured Cabernet Franc. His son Matthieu runs things now, though vignerons never really retire. This one comes off gravel soils from 65-year-old vines farmed organically, and the site shows: bright red fruit with a savory edge, fine tannin, and a mid-palate that stays lean without being austere. Loire Cabernet Franc at its most honest. The soil is doing the talking.
Tasting Notes
One of my favorite corners in Baudry’s tasting room (second only to their gallery wall of local pairing menus from celebrations of the last century) is an illuminating display of soil samples from all of their vineyards. A geological rainbow, this cross-section offers a glimpse below the surface of the differences in terroir we usually perceive only in our glasses. Les Grézeaux comes from a deep gray, gravelly clay that hosts the family’s oldest—over sixty-five-year-old—vines. This luxurious Chinon tastes fresh, brambly, and lived-in, like the loose weave of a well-worn sweater.
About the Producer
Bernard
Baudry is unquestionably one of Chinon’s most outstanding producers. Not only
does he have the talent to make delicious and consistent wines, vintage to
vintage, but he is also fortunate enough to have vineyard land that showcases
many of the varied soil types of the appellation. After completing his studies
at the viticultural school in Beaune, Bernard returned to the Loire Valley to
consult in Tours. By 1975, he had purchased his first two hectares of land in
Cravant-les-Coteaux, a village from which almost half of the production of
A.O.C. Chinon is sourced.
