2015 - Another Perfect Chinon "La Croix Boissée" from Domaine Baudry, and other Essential Loire Reds!
8/14/18 -
Finally the 2015 Chinon "La Croix Boissée" has joined the other beautiful Baudry 2015s on our shelves! While all the Baudry 2015s show gorgeous fruit and a round and supple structure, we especially love the brilliant (and great value) "Cuvée Domaine" and the perfect "La Croix Boissée." As the Baudrys say "the 2015s from the slopes and with more clay are very ripe and supple but with beautiful concentrations and an astonishing aromatic generosity, even in their youth." Tasted in the cellar in January of 2016 and 2017, the 2015 "Croix Boissée" showed bright, ripe black cherry and strawberry aromas with dense, ripe black and red fruits on the palate with fabulous length. The Baudrys great farming, perfect vinifications with zero sulfur until bottling, and aging in used Burgundy barrels are doing justice to this great terroir. This wine will drink beautifully young and will become a complex and profound older wine over the next 25 years. Last winter we were very fortunate to taste the 1996 "La Croix Boissée" Blanc - it was fantastic and still young, as this is a great terroir for Chenin Blanc as well! A tiny quantity of the 2017 has just arrived, and while it lacks the intense acidity of the 1996, it's a ripe, complex and beautiful Chenin that is well structured for medium-term aging. (For those of you who may have missed the other 2015 Baudry Chinons, our remaining inventory of these beautiful wines is listed at the bottom of the email.)
Other recent arrivals from the Loire Valley:
The 2014 Chateau de Coulaine Chinon "Clos Turpenay" - it's one of our favorite 2014 Loire reds, and will cellar beautifully. Biodynamic farming on a great clay/limestone vineyard, only in the US at Chambers Street.
The 2017 Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme Vin de France "Le Telquel" - Delicious Gamay glou-glou, serve cool and enjoy!
The 2015 Pierre & Catherine Breton Bourgueil "Nuits D'Ivresses" - 2015 is a great vintage for the Bretons' beautiful Bourgueil "sans-souffre." Drink now or cellar.
Domaine Vincent Gaudry, organic and Biodynamic since the early 1990s, is now making some of the finest wines in Sancerre. Imported for Chambers Street, the 2017 Sancerre "Constellation du Scorpion" is a brilliantly vibrant Sancerre from silex soils. The 2016 Sancerre Rouge "Vincengetorix" is a beautiful Pinot Noir for current drinking or five to ten years of cellaring. The 2016 Sancerre Rouge Pinot Fin "Les Garennes" is a bit pricey, but also insanely delicious and worth splurging on...
If you like Pineau d'Aunis, you'll love the light and lovely 2017 "La Guinguette" from Sébastien Cornille at Domaine de la Roche Bleue!
Also from Domaine de la Roche Bleue is a superb Chenin Blanc, the 2015 Jasnières "Clos des Molières." The palate is dense but crystalline and intensly mineral with white fruits, almond, citrus and stone flavors that continue in the scintillating finish...
Our friends Julien and François Pinon make some of the finest wines in Vouvray. Just arrived is the new 2012 Vouvray Brut Non-Dosé - it's a great vintage for this beautiful sparkling Vouvray that is wonderful now and will cellar beautifully for twenty+ years. And for sheer deliciousness, you can't beat their 2017 Vin de France Petillant Naturel Rosé! It's 50% Cot and 50% Grolleau and 100% yummy...
Certified organic since 1998, Domaine Philippe Tessier is making superb wines in Cheverny, including the fresh and delicate 2017 Rosé D'Aunis (100% Pineau d'Aunis, oddly enough) which has just arrived, along with their fantastic 2015 Cour-Cheverny "Porte d'Orée." Made from very old Romorantin vines, the Porte d'Orée is a ripe and complex dry Cour-Cheverny for delicious current drinking or cellaring for ten to twenty years.
And speaking of Rosés, we just received our allocation of the 2017 Stéphane Guion Bourgueil Rosé. The estate has been certified organic since 1965, and makes some of the earthiest and most delicious of all Bourgueil. The 2017 Rosé is bone dry, with brisk acidity, and has aromas of wild strawberry, red currant, green apples and rose petal - it will be gone soon so don't delay!
