Sons of the soil
The Baudry tasting room has a display case which illustrates the soil types of their various vineyards; while talking up the soil is a common (and abused) marketing strategy, Bernard and Mathieu are serious enough to try and show the approximate depths of the top- and subsoil for each parcel. This attention to detail without losing sight of the bigger picture, is characteristic of the family’s thorough and thoughtful approach to vine husbandry and wine making.
Their careful farming and cellar work has produced an array of suave, finely-poised wines, privileging elegance over power. Mathieu does not think that Chinon can or should be a dark, intense wine, even in exceptional vintages like 2003. Instead, Cabernet Franc, when properly grown and harvested at the right time, gives supple wines, where neither the tannins or acidity overwhelm the wine in its youth, but provide enough structure for extended aging. The older wines are lovely, albeit more rustic approximations of what the current wines will become; an 1989 Grezeaux was fantastic in 2011, and a 1996 Domaine still singing after almost 2 decades.
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