CABERNET FRANC MASTERS
Bernard Baudry is unquestionably one of Chinon’s most outstanding producers.
Bernard Baudry, now joined by his son Matthieu, is a master of terroir-driven winemaking in the Loire Valley. Cabernet Franc is the common denominator here, but the Baudry vineyards span a range of soil types—sand, gravel, clay, limestone, chalk—yielding fascinatingly diverse expressions of the same grape.
Cabernet franc reacts differently to the various soils within the Chinon appellation, giving wines that range from silky and suave to seriously full bodied and tannic. The wines are capable of long aging. The Baudrys farm their vineyards organically and ferment this wine in cement and wood tanks, then age it for one year in used oak barrels. The wine is then racked back into cement tanks, where it rests an additional nine months before an unfiltered bottling. It is a powerful expression of Chinon, with beautifully refined aromas of forest fruit and spice. While their elegance makes them approachable today, the wines will easily age and improve for ten or fifteen years in a good cellar.
Domaine Bernard Baudry is one of the reference estates for top-quality traditional Chinon, the different cuvées reflecting the various soil types of Chinon.
This year we have tiny allocations of each cuvee, reserve yours prior to release in October. All wines sold in six packs
2020 Chinon La Clos Guillot $49.95
2020 Chinon Les Grezeaux $39.95
2021 Chinon Les Granges $27.95
2020 Chinon Le Domaine $33.95
“While they are sometimes labelled traditionalists, I find them to be more naturalists, everything here is organic, harvested by hand and bottled without fining and filtration, in any case, theirs is a style that I admire, they make Cabernet Franc taste as suave and succulent as Pinot Noir” Vinous Media
