Mini-Chinon Night with MarcF: 1990 Raffault, 2010 Baudry Croix Boissee

My good buddy, fellow Berserker Marc Frontario and I, got together tonight on a whim, last-minute. Both wives out, mine out of town at a tennis tournament, his working, so he had a hallpass until 8:30. Gorgeous 68 degree night in Orlando, so sitting outside with some good bottles, great company, cannot ask for much more.

1990 Olga Raffault Chinon Les Picasses
I’ve been drinking Raffault since the mid-90s, when I was introduced to some of the excellent vintages, including 1990 and older library releases. It’s hard to imagine a more textbook Chinon. Classic Loire Cab Franc, more earth-driven than fruit driven, herbaceous. The 1990 came on the heals of the outstanding 1989, and has been slightly in its shadow, but this is and has always been a very fine rendition. Beautiful perfume of leather, barn, tobacco and red fruits. Love the lean fruit profile, slightly venturing into the dark spectrum, buttressed by high acid. Herbaceous, earthy, dry forrest floor, ash, tobacco leaf. Fully mature, ready to drink, completely at peak perhaps starting the back-slide. Drink up. Just lovely. Decanted for an hour.
(91 pts.)

2010 Domaine Baudry Croix Boissee
Now this is a “big boy” to follow the leaner Raffault. Larger scale, greater intensity of fruit and venturing more into the darker spectrum of blacks. Higher alcohol but in check. Fantastic intensity on the palate, excellent acid, crisp finish, as this wine still has years to flesh out. This is an outstanding vintage for Baudry, I have tried and loved every cuvee in this vintage, this being the first Croix Boissee that I have tried. The 2009 and 2011 are far more approachable. While I still prefer the more classic profile of Les Grezeaux in 2010, this Boissee is a true vin de garde. An amazing value, seek it out if you do not have it, sit on it if you do. Psyched about how this might show with time. Popped and poured, changed dramatically within 30 minutes, clearly needs a long decant.
(93 pts.)

Every time I look at a bottle of Croix Boissee I just back away and leave it alone.

Smart man. I would not touch this wine for another 7-10+. Even the Grezeaux, I’d say by 2020. I always find the Guillot to be the more open of the three top cuvees. The 2009 that I had recently was quite beautiful.

Guilot is certainly the easiest/prettiest.

Robert, great notes on the 1990 Raffault Les Picasses. I opened one up on Thursday with some friends for a wine night, it exceeded expectations and held it’s own against some heavy competition. Such a beautifully perfumed, herbaceous nose, with the palate still showing plenty of youthful fruit.

Awesome pair RA. Happy to see both showing well, especially the Raffault which can show bottle variation.

I love 2010 Baudry and own more of it than any producer/vintage combo. Have huge aspirations for the Grezeaux, but also look forward to start cracking some CG and CB in 5 years.

Cheers

While I still prefer the more classic profile of Les Grezeaux in 2010, this Boissee is a true vin de garde

Robert, in a few or more years you will the 2010 Croix Boissee instead of Les Grezeaux

Well done, sir!
It was a good night for '90 Raffault. Love it.
I need more Baudry in my life.

This should be a t-shirt.

I remember the last time I took the Grezeaux to dinner, and shared it with what was more of a Rombauer/Caymus kind of crowd. Forgive the label I am putting on here but I’m trying to present a distinction that I think is important, because the wine bombed at that table, and I was the only one digging it. Baudry is not going to appeal to the larger, wine drinker community, but I do like it, the Boissee cuvee the most.

Thanks for the TNs, Alf.

Drinking the remaining 1/3 bottle from last night. This wine is better day two. The front-end intensity from last night has deepened on the palate, showing better delineation of the fruit spectrum, and has picked up a more notable graininess to the texture. I have to admit, the alcohol shows a little bit more, but not off-putting. This is a killer bottle of wine. This wine has depth of character and fruit, and less herbaceousness than most Chinons, such that it should appeal very much to any lover of Bordeaux. Neal, you reading this?

Nice couple of wines. Baudry has probably moved up to favorite status to me for Chinon.

I’ve always loved the '90 Olga Raffault and I’d argue that it’s never been in the shadow of the '89. It’s usually a very different wine from the '89 and depending on how one likes their Cab Franc, there are generally two camps. If you like your Cab Franc a littler riper and a little less green and crunchy, you prefer the '90. More classic, with redder fruit and higher acid levels, you prefer the '89. Now, that said, I’ve seen plenty of bottle variation in the '90. Well, in a lot of Olga Raffault, actually. Most times over, say, the past ten years, the '90 shows more of a black fruit character, a bit of softness due to lower acid levels and more of a tobacco than pure green note. However, some bottles, like the bottle I opened just over a month ago, will show redder, coarser fruit, spikier acidity and much more green and earthy notes. I’m definitely not a fan of those showings.

Really well said, Brad. I bet you know which I prefer!

As to Baudry, once all my 2014 deliveries come in, it may be the biggest producer in my country cellar.

So I get a text from Sir Alfert that reads like this, “Wanna swing by and pop the '90 Raffault?” ahhhhhhh fuq yesss I do

We arrange a time and point my wagon west to Lancaster Park.

I knock and of course pop open the mail slot to state (in my best female Latin voice) “House keeping you need pillow.” (if u don’t know the reference, shame on u!!)
I hear a chuckle, the door pops opens and…WTF has happened to my buddy?..
I swing over to Sir Alfert’s and some random guy opens the door looking like the poster child for physical therapy…OMG wait, its actually Bobby!..the dude is apparently in rough shape, a taped swollen right ankle, a jacked up left torn bicep, bruised pride… I scan the house for a walker with spalding balls attached to the bottom while we exchange pleasantries, no dice…so I drape Alfert’s arm across my shoulders as I assist him back into the kitchen like some wounded warrior extracted from the field of battle…

No worries, help is on the horizon…Like some magical healing elixir that big pharma scours the ends of the earth for is the 1990 Olga Raffault quietly resting in the Amadeo Reidel decanter.

To the wine:
I really can’t do any justice to the tasting notes as Bobby captured them perfectly. Though I must admit I absolutely adored the green tobacco, stable hay, damp horse fur and leather scents…

insert nose herel<
Though I would like to touch on a conversation we had regarding the nose of the Raffault…Bobby asks me, “so do you consider the nose brett?” I reply, “No”
I say “No” because I look at the term brett as implying a negative connotation…
I usually reserved the term “brett” for wines that stink like pure ape squeeze. That was not case here with the Raffault… The nose was complex and interesting…Now I would expect that most would declare the Raffault as bretty and technically I assume they would be correct. So if this is Brett then consider me a huge fan.
No question the '90 is great wine that I would be proud to serve any guest…Having said that, I would still consider the’07 and '77 ahead of it in the pecking order… In fact I’m not sure I have ever tasted an Olga I didn’t like (talking about the wine boys, the wine!.. u sick bastards)

After draining the Raffault Bobby asks, “Do you have time for another glass?” This is probably the easiest question I had to answer all year… Bobby gimps off to the wine frig and viola, out comes the Boissee!

I actually have never had the Boissee bottling only the domaine, granges and clos G…so I am amped to taste it. Clearly young, this wine had power and finesse…
This wasn’t showing all of its glory this evening but a great wine nonetheless. The finish was a bit clipped and the charms still lurking behind the wall of structure…
Clearly a wine to watch, but in all honesty I prefer my franc a bit more funky.
Wish I could have spent more time dissecting its personality, but I had to run.

It was a brief evening catching up along the shores of beautiful Lake Lancaster. I thanked Alfert for his great hospitality. It was there that I left my poor hobbled friend to his own devices (ben-gay and cold compresses).
On the way out I may have spotted a handicap sticker on the new Rover, but I had a few glasses so my eyes may have been playing tricks on me. Thanx again my friend

Oh, and sorry I forgot the cheese Bobby.

Forget Neal, we do not want him drinking our wines!..Keep Chinon UTR brother…in fact in the future u should have to ‘hack in’ to read our notes.

Haha, nice notes, MarcF!

And unlike you, I still woke up and cycled hard the next day, and day after! Ankle brace, torn bicep, be damned.

And no worries, I’m sitting on tons of Chinon.

Would like us to start a WB fund to buy you BenGay, Robert? Ben-Gay and Baudry?

Bio-Freeze, baby! Works much better. And it’s in a roll-on. Put it all over the achy or soon-to-be achy parts. Do not apply before a wine tasting, though it does clear the sinuses.

What a special combo. I actually had the 1990 Raffault on Saturday night, and it absolutely shone with an Alsatian sausage dish. Very much akin to your tasting note with the complexity on the nose and the svelte, energetic palate really standouts.

I also agree wholeheartedly with your take on 2010 Baudry. Stay as far away as possible for another five years, minimum. More so than even the Grezeaux, the Croix Boissee needs to be given the same cellar time as you would a classed growth BDX.

Funny that three of us, Dennis included, all popped the 1990 Raffault on Saturday!