[TN] '05 Baudry Chinon

Whoddathunk, both of drinking Baudry at same time. This sounds more serious, and just as tasty. Thanks

Did you have a Baudry Chinon? I must've missed it.

Mark Lipton

Sounds very nice. I recently had my first experience with Chinon - an

Cheers,

Salil

Santiago and I tasted both Les Granges and La Croix Boisee recently with the Baudry family. I didn't get any barnyard from les Granges, although I concur about the green notes. The proof is I bought the latter but not the former, although the prices were, um, somewhat less inflated.

I think la Croix Boisee will really benefit from 5 years or so in the cellar. We had a bottle not too long ago but it never opened up.

As great minds apparently think of Chinon concurrently, we had a

(Salil, a 2005 Chinon that was thin may have some more serious problems. You might want to try another.)

-E

Hi

(been lurking for a while) thanks for the notes on the Chinon. I've been hearing some v good things about the vintage and what's been posted by people here seems to confirm that. Can't wait to try sme of these.. I've been reading various reviews on the Loire 2005s and noticed something curious: Ch de Hureau, whose Saumur-Champignys seem very nice, does not get a mention by jacqueline Friederich nor for that matter in the Wine Advocate, it is glowingly reviewed by Jancis Robinson and Decanter. I have had a few bottles of their Fevettes (2002?) which were rather nice, and wondered if people over here had any of the 2005s? Is there some backstory to this ommission by JF and WA? On a not unrelated note has anyone tasted any of the sweet 2005s from Vouvray?

Thanks bogan

Hi Bogan,

I can't speak for the reviewers, but I bought 18 bottles of the regular cuvee direct without tasting. I tasted one rather too quickly, it was very closed. Will probably revisit soon enough, as I noticed recently some 05 La Perruche SC also coming around a little.

I rather regret not having ordered a case of the Lisagathe, which Vatan histrionically declared "the wine of his lifetime." But I do think he's been exaggerating the pricing, unfortunately.

Haven't tasted any 05 Vouvray yet but no reason to think it's not an exceptional millisime there too.

-E

Agree that thin is unusual for 2005 (unless one is used to say Pride Cab Franc) :)

The barnyard was light on the '04 Les Granges, and I didn't actually mind the greenness- more herbal Cab francness than unripeness to me.

Le Ligre is a new one to me.

I confess to not knowing who Jacqueline Friederich is. :( Not surprising. WA doesn't have the widest coverage of Loire, though having David S. on board should improve situation. I also think Hureau doesn't have the widest distribution in US- I've heard good things, but never actually had one in memory. But there are prominent estates in many regions that are missed by some reviewers - occasionally there's a hidden story, but it's mostly just a function of time for visits and tastings. Reviewers have to make choices (partially influenced by personal tastes).

she has written a very useful and good (imho) book on Loire wines some time ago - if i remember correctly this did well with some prizes etc. more recently has a book on french wines. My experience with her loire book was that she seemed quite good at telling you which growers' wines you'd want to try and which you wouldnt - a few times while trying Loire wines, when we 'strayed' from her recommendations we would come to regret it! She also seems to like wines specific to a region, not to say to a terroir, and is good at balancing that against 'fruitiness'. Hence my surprise to not see Hureau on the (lengthy) list of hers - just curious really..

i see - i've seen it in a number of places in boston, so assumed it was available around the US - but we seem to be lucky with one or two shops with a wide loire selectino around here. The bottles i have had certainly were good, but so far i have not had their more prestigious bottlings..

bogdan

Emery Davis wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@loki.domain.org:

And we had quite a good time, that's for sure. I too got some herbal notes (I like them as long as they are not green-green) from Les Granges. My favorite Baudry for early drinking is what they call "Domaine". I have been drinking some bottles lately and is in great form (we Spaniards tend to drink our wines too young, after decades of drinking them too old).

La Croix Boisée 2005 really needs these five years even if I do not think it is a very tannic or concentrated wine. However, past experiences with Baudry's have told me that the sandy soils in La Croix Boisée really make for a finesse with some age. 2002's is singing right now. Too bad I finished my case.

To offer some contrast, this week we opened a bottle of a VDT by Olivier Cousin, a 2005 according to the lot number. Greener than a golf-course and with about 300 dirty horses inside the bottle. What a mess ;-(

s.