Bernard Baudry (Chinon, Loire)

Bernard & Matthieu Baudry (with Clos Guillot 2010) Cravant-les-Coteaux (Chinon, Loire)
Chinon is sometimes decried as a region with uninteressing Cabernet Franc wines, as Chinon was known to be in the past the basic wine served in the Paris bistrots, along with Brouilly for example. Some consider the wines of this region as green and too acidic, but that is maybe when you only taste the wines found on the supermarket shelves. There are a few valuable estates to contradict this opinion, among them Domaine Bernard Baudry. Stories like that often begin with strong-willed individuals, and Bernard Baudry is one of them. I must confess that I didn't know Baudry wines myself, and this visit helped me correct this omission, in addition to the pleasure to meet friendly people. Here is a medium-size winery where the care of the vineyard side goes on pair with a non-additive vinification. Bernard Baudry started the winery with only 2 hectares in 1975 and it now makes an impressing 30 hectares, proving that you can keep an organic vineyard-management philosophy on a relatively large surface. The winery is located along the Vienne river, which is one of the rivers (along with the Loir and the Cher) which drain the Loire basin and ultimately flow into the big mother river. The house and facility sit at the foothill of the limestone cliffs where turned-into-cellars quarries offer large and naturally cool storage room for the élevage in barrels.

Matthieu Baudry The soils and terroirs vary a lot from vineyard to vineyard, on Baudry's climats, and they made this soil visualization (pic on right - click to enlarge) so that we may understand what type of undersoil goes with a given cuvée.
We walked into several of Baudry's vineyards with Matthieu Baudry, who is now mostly in charge of many of the winery's work as I understood. The first plot we saw was the vineyard of Les Granges, one of the base cuvées of the estate, a 6 hectare block right below the facility, on a gentle slope between the cliff and the river. Planted from 1985 to 1989, not massal selections (the later plantations were massal). Sandy soil, mostly, easy to plow and easy to manage. Not a great terroir as there's no limestone or clay but no hydric stress and makes nice wines, Matthieu says. They regularly add organic compost there (vegetables, horse manure, straw). They're happy with this block because it's getting better every year.
The second plot we drove to is Les Cheneaux, which yields Cabernet Franc grapes which are going to make 80% of the cuvée Le Domaine. the vineyard is located on the plateau overlooking the Vienne valley. About 30-year old vines, on sand and limestone (beneath), plus some clay. The place is always windy, in summer as well as in witner. On a small part of the plateau they also planted a square of truffle oak trees, a bet on the future as the trees need time to reach adulthood. This will help diversity also in the vineyard. This Clos Guillot is very close to a very good climat/vineyard of Charles Joguet : le Chêne Vert. Baby vines of Grolleau Here, one year ago, Matthieu and his father Bernard planted a year ago 0,2 hectare of Grolleau, a now hard to find variety which used to be common in the past in thi part of the Loire. They planted actually non-grafted vines, franc de pied like we say in French. The soil being sandy, they thought that it might work as philloxera doesnt develop on sand, and it seems that they're OK for now. Asked why they planted this, Matthieu answers that he once tasted the red Grolleau from Olivier Cousin and it was an love at first sight with this variety, with this juicy and peppery style. He then realized that Grolleau was widespread around there, with the origin of the variety being located near Azay-le-Rideau not far from here (Grolleau de Saint Marc). It happens that one of their staff at the estate owned a small parcel of old Grolleau, 6 rows aged 60 years, but he didn't want to let or sell it. So he made a massal selection from this old plot and had the vines planted there. He doesn't know still if he'll make that on a larger scale, they must first wait and see if phylloxera doesnt reach the vines (there's a tiny bit of clay in the sand). Because Grolleau had a neglected status and was knowingly ignored by the appellation rules, whatever wine made from this Grolleau would be in table wine label (vin de France). They had also planted 0,7 hectare of Grolleau on a different part of the vineyard but the soil was clayish and the non-grafted vines were struck by the disease a few years later, so they had to uproot that particular plot (they lost 8 years of experimentation in the process). La Croix Boissée, Chenin next to Cab Franc This picture above was shot on La Croix Boissée, a climat which is mostly Cabernet Franc but also has a small Chenin Blanc part. Some big stones on there. There's a difference of color from the top of the slope to the lower part of the slope, going from white limestone with sand, to the clay with sand, and further down, the bottom which is mostly sand. Like in Burgundy, the best part is the mid slope. They had the Chenin planted on part of the climat (on the upper part), most of the surface being Cab Franc. That's one of the best terroirs, Matthieu says, with concentrated wines and silky tannins. They have two pruning systems here, Cordon with 4 branches for the whites, and the Guillot Simple for the reds. On the pic above you can see where the Chenin row turns into a Cab Franc row along the slope : the vine on the left is a 4-branch-cordon Chenin while the next one on the right is a simple guyot Cabernet Franc. The Chenin here makes a small surface of 0,25 hectare. The picture on the right shows another plot of Chenin and the Vienne river valley in the far.
The last vineyard we went to was Les Grézeaux (pic on left), which lies near what was formerly a marshland. You can see the house and winery in the far, along the cliff. The vines were planted in 1945 (67 years old). Lots of gravel here, brought by the Vienne river. It's lightly sloppy here too. Bernard Baudry filling a glass We then went back to the winery and tasted a few wines in the chai, the cellar and the house. Bernard Baudry himself joined us, along with two of his friends, who seemed to be long-time acquaintances. there were different types of vats in there, cement, metal and tronconic wooden vats. There were a couple of wrapped pallets in the middle, ready for shipping to LDM Wines (New York).
__We first had a rosé (from a vat) made with direct-pressing of Cabernet Franc, good refreshing way to open the tasting round. From the long horizontal metal vat on the right, if I remember. This rosé is made from young vines of good terroirs (like Clos Guillot) and from vines planted below in the valley, on the sand.
__ a first red from a vat. Bernard Baudry is a very friendly person, he is attentive to what people say and he is very humble about his work. Here we tasted Les Granges 2011 from the cement vat (Bernard Baudry filling, above). This wine was vinified in stainless steel vats, and it has its élevage in cement, for 6 months. It will be ottled in two stages, one in spring and the rest in september. It is a 50 000 bottles cuvée. Tastes quite nice already, with nice tannins. 2 or 3 months ago they weren't so sure about how this wine would turn out, it was aromatic but with lots of reduction. It changed for the better since then. Fermented on wild yeast in Stainless-steel vats (3 weeks), with a bit of SO2 added at harvest (2 to 4 grams) for protection against oxydation. Then, no more SO2 until the end of malolactic fermentation. They blend the first press with the freerun juice but keep separate the 2nd press by precaution, adding it later if it's not harsh or unpleasant. Sampling the Cuvée Domaine 2011 __ Next wine was the Chinon cuvée Domaine, another base cuvée of the estate, from a Grenier tronconic vat. 80 % comes from Les Cheneaux vineyard on the plateauand the remaining 20 % come from different blocks here and there. Smells reduction right now, the wine is in the middle of its winter sleep. This Cabernet Franc tastes well, I tell Mathieu, he says that I shouls say that to his father Bernard because he is always wary of reduction on the nose. I personally don't complain about reduction, especially when the wine tastes well in the mouth and lets itself drink easily (another important side of the wine which is too often bypassed by tha aromatic analysis). Should stay in there until harvest, then it will go into an underground vat until bottling next january. This Grenier vat is a 70 hectoliter, quite a big volume; they were among the first to order such big-volume tronconic vats to Marc Grenier, in 1998.
__ Baudry Cabernet Franc, franc de pied vines (non-grafted), from a 0,3-hectare vineyard, on Clos Guillot. There is not enough room with sand to plant more. Very nice nose. I heard that non-grafted vines yield more aromatic wines. Ripe vegatal notes, says Mathieu, meaning the good vegetal side. Very nice to swallow, very fresh. Malo is probably mostly completed. Tastes like morello cherries, says someone. 4 barrels of this. Les Grezeaux 2011, in casks We then waled into the cellar of Bernard Baudry (whio lives in house a few meters on the left of the winery) deep in the cliff to taste Les Grézeaux 2001, a Cabenet Franc having its élevage in 3-year-old casks. Dark fruit aromas, smoke and spices, this is a masculine wine. Mathieu says the tannins are too forward these days (there's some astringency), but they will ease with time in the casks. They didn't make any extraction here, no cap punching, only a few pumping-overs. Will stay a year altogether in the casks
__ Baudry Chinon Clos Guillot 2011, from another group of casks, similarly aged, some casks being 8 years old. Very long mouthfeel, fresh too. The stony, crystal-clear thing in the mouth comes from the soil particularities, Mathieu says. Grapes are destemmed, but they sometimes add a bit of wholeclustered grapes as experiment. Mathieu says that he is still wary about the wholecluster thing, at least here in Chinon. Chinon glasses in the cellar I don't remember which wine we were tasting when I shot this picture with the mold-covered bottles in the background, but this red vivid color shows the savoury side of the wine.
__ Baudry la Croix Boissée 2011, from a cask. Back on the chalk-type of soil. Very earthy, with almost root notes, Mathieu says. No SO2 except at the harvest here, he says, because the malolactic was not completely finished when they racked it all into the casks. Anyway it's too cold right now to get oxydized. As soon as the temperature will rise, the wine will find its own place. The élevage here is two years in casks, because of the chalky tannins. They used to age it a single year but they found out it was not enough and raised the cask time to two years, in casks dating from a few years. Will be bottled september 2014.
__ Baudry Chinon les Granges 2010. Tasted back in the winery. Alcohol is 12,4, very moderate in alcohol. For easy drinking in summer, Mathieu says, but better with food. He sees customers who had a terrific time drinking this wine in a restaurant and were a bit disappointed when tasting it again here (and it was the same vintage/same bottling). That's why eating with this wine is primordial, from his experience. Intricate cellar architecture On this picture, you can see the patient architectural work done along the years to keep this cellar working : We're here on the cliff side, just that a roof above our head makes us feel already in the cellar. This part is semi-trogloditic, I would say. The cement vats (left) were built right along the cliff, under the roof and the contruction sitting against the limestone wall. To prevent the massive chalk ceiling from falling apart (which happens now and then in many such cellars), this thick cross-shaped cement beam was added sometime during the 20th century. You can see on the right the first cask rooms, the others being further right under the hill in a maze of connecting rooms. That's what I'd call an empirical cellar built over several generations. You don't guess all this when you look at the cliff from the outside (pic on left).
__ Baudry Chinon les Grézeaux 2010. From a bottle. Very nice nose, juicy feel already, gourmand, I'd say. Lots of energy in this wine, Mathieu says. Goes down well indeed. The gravel soil explains a lot. 2010 was an average year and on this terroir it yielded very nice wines that can also age well. This vintage 2010 is for the Baudrys a year with very refined wines. Many people think 2009 is better but they love 2010 more.
__ Baudry Chinon Clos Guillot 2010. From a vat where the casks were blended together. No notes, sorry.
__ Baudry, Chinon blend of Clos Guillot & Bel Air 2010 (two climats, Bel Air being planted on sand). Elegant but not too strong, keeps its freshness, Mathieu says.
__ Baudry Chinon Clos Guillot 2010. Without the sandy Bel Air part of the blend. Taken from a cask (picture at the top, with Bernard and Mathieu Baudry, also pic on right). Very nice wine, superb mouthfeel, juicy and pure. So good to drink. 12011633 The Croix-Boissée cask cellar __ Baudry, Chinon La Croix Boissée 2010, tasted from a cask in the high-ceiling cellar room where La-Croix-Boissée casks are kept for many months. This wine is right now in the midterm of its cask élevage. Very nice. Long mouth with enjoyable chewy feel. There's a bit of gas, but the perly feel comes also with the chalk, dust feel of the minerality, Mathieu says. This is particular feature for this wine, year after year. Very refreshing in spite of its 14° in alcohol, he says, adding that he loves this particular wine. These casks are 2 to 3 wines old.
Speaking of filtration, they decided years ago to leave the wines (most of them) unfiltered, but they made the step^after very careful checks and experimentations : They began with Les Grézeaux, which they both had filtered and unfiltered. They kept bottles of the two modes on the side during 5 years, checking them from time to time. After that delay, the filtered wine was having these cooked fruits aromas, not a bad wine but lacking life and energy, while the unfiltered one was alive, juicy, vibrant. the difference was really obvious after these years, and 10 years later the filtered wine was mostly bland on the tasting side while the unfiltered had body, shoulders and was so enjoyable, no question. they checked that with several wines before generalizing the unfiltered mode. Bernard Baudry (Mathieu's father) made his first experimental filtered/unfiltered cuvée in 1992 or 1993 and following the striking difference in tasting pleasure, they extended the unfined-unfiltered mode to all the wines aged in barrels. For the cuvée les Granges and the cuvée Domaine, it depends of the vintage and their tasting impressions when they check the wines, sometimes they just make a light diatomaceous-earth filtration. Mathieu pouring wine to his father This review of the domaine wines wasn't finished, and we sat along a table in some sort of informal tasting room, with several bottles that Mathieu had selected. His father and his two friends joined and this was a pleasant exchange about the wines and anectotes. Bernard Baudry told us that until 1989 he never had used weedkillers, he was maybe the last vigneron around, then, to still plow his vineyard. He says with a laugh that actually he didn't have the means to buy weedkillers, that's why. He used weedkillers during a few years only, between 1990 and 1999.
__ Baudry Chinon cuvée Domaine 2009 (red). As we were beginning our tasting, a private customer walked in (this was a late afternoon) to buy a case. The young guy who works at the Chinon N plant is a regular customer and he takes always the cuvée Domaine to which he seems to be hooked to.
__ Baudry Chinon les Grézeaux 2009. Appealing nose, fruit, seducing wine. Richness. Mathieu prefers the 2009.
__ Baudry Chinon Clos Guillot 2009. I still remember the 2010 which we tasted from the cask, so I of course prefer the former. Still, refreshing nose, juicy feel, quite good.
__ Baudry, Chinon La Croix Boissée 2009. I like that... Very nice wine. Bottled last september (2011). The wine has also this chalky side of the 2010, but on a minor mode.
__ Baudry Chinon Cuvée Domaine Chenin Blanc 2011. 5-year-old vines (one hectare block). Malolactic fermentation completed. Acidulous nose. Lightly fizzy. Grapefruit aromas. They usually let the malo unwind, they don't block it. There's still an acidity feel. This bottle is a micro blend made with all the caskls of Chenin. The bottling will take place in may, hopefully. Soil here is clay/limestone. There's very little Chenin wines produced on Chinon, about 2 to 3 % of the total volume.
__ Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissée white (Chenin Blanc) 2011. Perly, acidic. Soil very chalky, here, Mathieu says. Two people note the salty feel on this wine, which I aknowledge too : Mathieu says that it comes from the many shells and sea sediments found in the middle of the chalk/limestone. Mathieu Baudry says that in spite of the mouthfeel which seems to say differently, the acidity is low in this wine, and the saline feel compensates. The casks will be blended in september 2012.
__ Baudry Chinon white Cuvée Domaine 2010. On the market now. Filtered because there was 2 to 3 grams of residual sugar. Aromùas of lemon, iode.
__ Baudry Chinon white La Croix Boissée 2010. Turbid chenin Blanc. There were 8 grams of residual sugar, too much for the AOC rules, so they brought lees from another cuvée to have it finish ferment. It's working, it's already down at 6 grams. Interesting nose with lychee notes. Also grapefruit, pineapple. Very pleasant and fresh, with a bit of bitterness, I like that. This wine will have the time it needs. 3000 bottles in all. Old Chinon __ Baudry, surprise bottle (of red Chinon), quite old if we judge from the dust on it. We soon learn it's Chinon les Grézeaux. Nose quite mineral, it seems to me. Comes from a gravel soil. Good acidity, a particular wine with maturation, but which has lots to say : it's a 1996. Chinon ages well, so to say. Its reputation often says otherwise because in the 1960s' many producers opted for high yields and plantings in the plain, which resulted in diluted wines.
__ Baudry. Other mystery bottle. The nose is almost roasted coffee, even perfume, says Bernard Baudry. It is a Cuvée Domaine 1990, a 21-year-old wine... Swallowed : great experience, very pleasant wine, which tells us stories while we sip...

Tip about a good restaurant (and wine list) in Chinon (in a very elegant and old building of Chinon) : Les années 30
Read the Wine Doctor's page on Bernard Baudry.

Domaine Bernard Baudry 9 Coteau de Sonnay 37500 Cravant les Coteaux phone + 33 2 47 93 15 79 fax + 33 2 47 98 44 44 bernard-baudry [at] chinon [dot] com Domaine Baudry website Satellite view of the estate (and some of the vineyards)

Comments

[Vintage Confusion]

Cher Monsieur Bertrand,
What a beautiful photo essay! I especially loved the brief explanation of the different types of soil in which each type of wine grape is grown. I have never seen anything like that and I found it to be fascinating. Is there any chance for a close up or a longer explanation?
Thanks a bunch!
- Micheline

[grolleau]

Ne serait ce pas plutot le Grolleau de Cinq Mars (Cinq Mars La pile, à coté de Langeais en face d'Azay)?
Sinon comme d'habitude, superbe reportage

[David B]

Thank you for a very enjoyable and educational write up. I was very happy to gain insight into the soils of the various vineyards. Your description part of the cellars as "semi-trogloditic" is priceless!

[Sunshine Mountain Valley Vineyard]

What a breathtaking view you got up there! And it was a new insight for me about all those soil science included in this blog! Kudos to you sir!

[PurpleTeeth of Fullerton, Calif., USA]

My wife and I had a private tasting with Messr. Baudry in July 2009. He was generous with his time, and had a delightful sense of humor. And what terrific wine! It was a highlight of our trip. He spoke no English and we very little French, but we understood each other perfectly. Later, his wife was kind enough to lead us by car across the river to Philippe Alliet, where our next tasting was scheduled.

[Sklenicka]

Just returned from trip to Loire with one of the stops at Mr. Baudry's winery. I've met Mr. Bernard Baudry, and it was a great lesson on Cabernet Franc. I've visited other winemakers and tasted some fine wines in Sancerre and Pouilly but the Boudry wines were really exceptional. Mr. Baudry also opened Cabernet Franc 2000 for us and I was surprised by the condition of this nice wine, it could easily age another 12 years! Many thanks for generous welcome and for Cabernet Franc!

[ilbe]

A great post about a great producer! I have just recently discovered the Baudry wines and was instantly blown away by both the quality and prices. I have had my fair share of too vegetal and thin Cabernet Franc, but Les Grézeaux 2009 made me a fan. Ridiculously cheap for a wine of such depth and complexity!

[Phil Z]

For the Croix Boissee 2011 vintage, the article mentions:

"The élevage here is two years in casks, because of the chalky tannins. They used to age it a single year but they found out it was not enough and raised the cask time to two years, in casks dating from a few years. Will be bottled september 2014. "

At this time in December 2013, I see it is for sale at one merchant. Was this actually bottled in Sept '13?

[Bert]

Hi Phil,

I got the information while making this visit but sometimes as you know the planned élevage time is not fully respected, and this for different reasons, it may be that after all the wine tasted well after a year, or it may be here because the yields were so much lower in 2012 and so there was a pressure from the buyers who were asking for bottled wine.

[Shawna]

What exactly is a "light diatomaceous-earth filtration" vs. a heavier filtration?