New Arrivals from Bernard and Matthieu Baudry: 2020 "Les Grézeaux" and "Domaine," 2021 Blanc!

Domaine Bernard Baudry in Chinon is indisputably one of the great wine domains of France!

Having enjoyed drinking and selling the beautiful Baudry "Les Grézeaux" and  "Cuvée Domaine" since the 1989 vintage, I'm particularly happy to welcome the 2020s to Chambers Street! 2020 is perhaps a more "typical" Loire vintage, as Matthieu Baudry says "the wines are balanced and fresh, a bit less rich than the three precceding vintages. One finds again a more typical Chinon style with bright red fruit aromas, and the "vins de garde" will age gracefully thanks to their freshness and beautiful acidity."  Both the "Les Grézeaux" and "Domaine" will be delicious as young wines and 10 to 20 years in the cellar will create a wonderful mature expeerience. (The 2010 Domaine is drinking perfectly now!)

Matthieu continues: "Winter 2020 was mild but with sufficient rainfall to restore groundwater levels which were quite low after the 2019 drought.. Once again frost was a threat to the early budbreak, but no major damage was caused. From springtime onwards, rainfall gave way to some very fine weather and a prolonged dry spell. The Covid lockdown made for some nice walks under a bright sun in the pale green vineyard. A few days of rainfall in late April and early May stimulated vine growth and blooming started on May 20. Lack of rainfall during summer lead to an early harvest. Summer rains came in mid-August and boosted the much-needed ripening process of the berries. The whites were harvested very early, around September 10, while the first Cabernets were picked from September 16 onwards."

Bernard Baudry began his domain in 1975 with two hectares, after working for the great Loire Valley oenologist and gourmet, Jacques Puisais. Gradually expanding the estate with great parcels on the varied terroirs of Chinon, Bernard and his son Matthieu now farm 32 hectares in the communes of Cravant-les-Coteaux and Chinon. All aspects of winemaking at Domaine Baudry are performed with the utmost intelligence and care: superb organic farming with their own composts, careful manual harvests, vinifications perfectly suited to each terroir with no added SO2 - only a tiny adddition as needed before bottling -  and aging in carefully chosen cement or barrels, with no new oak in the cellar.

One of the most pleasurable red wines of the Loire Valley, the Baudry Chinon "Les Grézeaux" is from a unique parcel of old vines at the bottom of the slope in Sonnay (near Cravant-les-Coteaux) on a bed of gravel over a base of clay, sand and limestone. The grapes are harvested by hand of course and fermented with wild yeasts with zero SO2 added during vinification. Beginning in 2017, the wine ages in large cement vats by Nico Velo, which are slightly porous. Les Grézeaux always has an elegant silky texture and wonderful freshness, making it delicious as a young wine, combined with the ability to age beautifully for 20 years and more in good vintages.

2020 "Domaine" - The Baudry Chinon "Domaine" is always one of our favorite reds from the Loire Valley and it's a sensational value as well.   All Cabernet Franc of course, a blend of 80% from a parcel in St. Louans, where the thin clay/limestone soils give earthy well-structured wines, with 20% from gravel soils near Cravant, giving supple fruit and freshness.  Two-week fermentation in cement vats, then fifteen-month aging in unlined cement or oak vats. Bottling two springs after harvest. No filtration, almost no added SO2.

The Baudrys normally produce two white Chinons from Chenin Blanc, the "Cuvée Domaine" and "La Croix Boissée" - while they represent only 5% of total production, they are becoming more and more important as they express the terroir of the limestone/clay slopes with remarkable freshness and balance.  The wines are tightly allocated. In 2021, yields were tiny, so only one cuvée was produced, labeled "Le Domaine," including the grapes from "La Croix Boissée," from thin soils at the top of the slope, and grapes normally in "Le Domaine" from other parcels lower on the slope in and around Cravant. This unique wine is a product of great terroir and the impeccable farming and winemaking of the Baudrys - it is essential for any lover of Loire Valley Chenin...

Scheduled to arrive this week, "Les Grézeaux" and "Le Domaine" Blanc are delayed, of course, until late September. "Cuvée Domaine" Rouge is in stock. 10% case/mixed case discount applies.