Not sure if this belongs here or travel thread. I’ll be in the Loire Valley in a month. My travel group are not wine geeks so we’ll do mostly tasting rooms for Sauv and Chenin (like Huet), but I’ve convinced them to do at least one serious visit in Chinon. I really want to find out more about red Loire wines. I went through the threads and decided to try Bernard Baudry. I contacted them, but they expect to be in the middle of harvest so no tastings. I didn’t think about mid-september being harvest so they’re likely fewer options.
How about Couly-Dutheil? It’s one of the biggest (if not the biggest) name in the region, so they might be able to squeeze in a spot for a visit.
I haven’t been there but a couple of my friends visited the winery and said it was one of the best visits during their trip. Some other producers poured more impressive wines, but they told me it was a super place if you are looking for a great winery visit, not to look for the absolute best wines in the region. In that sense, if you are not a bunch of winos, it might fit the bill.
And after all, when Couly-Dutheils are good, they are superb, so you’re still going to have some great wines as well.
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I’d think Couly-Dutheil + Joguet would be the biggest and therefore potentially the most well equipped to handle tastings during harvest.
Also agree w/ Otto that when Couly-Dutheil wines are on, they are on.
I know Joguet is listing appointments in September, and you can book the various experiences right on their website w/o emailing.
Baudry was a special tasting, one of our very favorites of the whole Loire visit. Might be worth a quick followup closer to the date to see if anything opens up. The new Mollieres cuvee is an absolute banger, and their Franc de Pied among the best grolleau I’ve ever tried.
Tasting at Olga Raffault was lovely too (5 vintage vertical of the Champ-Chenin!), but similar to Baudry, they might not be able to accommodate during harvest.
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Mark, Sounds like a great time. I was just in the area a couple weeks ago. I stayed near Saumur, but went to Chinon and Bourgeuil tasting as well as around Saumur.
My best tasting in Chinon was at Baudry, but that’s not an option. The other places I tasted in Chinon were walk in tasting room type places. In Chinon aside from Baudry, I most enjoyed Marc Plouzeau for if nothing else, the tasting room is in an underground limestone cave probably going back close to 100m under the town. Good to very good wines for the most part. A couple overwooded examples but the mid ranges decent. The Joguet tasting room is right in town and has a small store that had Joguet wines and a few other wines form around France with a wine bar type tasting vibe. The person there was knowledgable, friendly and we talked about everything from wine to politics. The wines were very good, but it felt a bit wine - bar and less a tasting room. Across the street was Couly Dutheil and I would agree with Otto in that I’ve quite enjoyed some of their older Clos d’ Echo and Clos d’ Olive wines from the 80s and 90s. I wish I could say a nice thing about any wine I tasted there, and I kept trying to find something that I did not think was dreadful so that I could buy something to be polite. Nothing even close. A very friendly person hosted, but honestly quality of wine wise, the most memorably bad tasting experience I can think of.
In Bourgeuil, I really liked Chevalerie. Both the ambiance and the wines which I thought were very good. I could not get an appt at Dom du Bel Air. Between Chinon and Saumur (much closer to Saumur) was Filliatreau with some good to very good wines. It was a little impersonal but once they talked a bit and notice enthusiasm or knowledge, they warmed up. I quite liked a few of their wines, and others not so much A mixed bag, but worth the visit.
My favorite visit by a stretch was Chateau des Chaintres outside Saumur. Both the tour of the vineyards and the cellar (we went with a couple that day who were novices and our kids) was great. Camilla was personable, smart, super cool and friendly. I thought the wines throughout the lineup had an excellent sensibility and balance. I am not sure how close you are to Chinon vs the other towns, but for unsolicited advice, I thought Saumur was well worth a visit and had much more to offer than Chinon. A good wine store as well, excellent Fromagier and Butcher shop, baker, and Chocolatier all in walking distance. Also visited to Combier there. They supposedly invented Triple Sec and make lots of other flavored liquors. They are in downtown Saumur and the kids got to try a ton of flavored nonalcoholic drinks in addition to our adult beverages. It ws surprisingly fun. Also outside of Saumur was a mushroom museum. Evidently the area is the epicenter of French mushroom production. The caves were fun and they sell mushrooms they grow. I’ll try to attach a picture of what 9,50E got me in mushrooms. And these were the splurging more expensive ones:)
Anyway, I hope you have a great trip. It is lovely around there. Also raspberries should be peaking about now and even the little bit unripe ones when we were there were terrific. Blackberries are on right now as well, but just pick those on the side of the road, no need to buy any. Also Mirabelles were on point two weeks ago.
Bon Voyage!
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Does Baudry generally not accept visitors?
Baudry does accept visitors, but they are not really a commercial tasting room. It’s like tasting in Piedmont or Burgundy. A family run working cellar. They probably are just really busy in September.
Also I agree about their new bottling “les Mollieres”. A delicious, more approachable “Clos Guillot”.
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My wife and I had a spontaneous and excellent tasting at Joguet in September 2021. Among the highlights of our trip.
They certainly do, and they are positively lovely hosts.
I just got the impression it’s a very small staff, and it makes sense they can’t accommodate visits during harvests.
Also their different vineyards are spread out over a fairly wide area, which I’m sure makes it all a bit more time consuming. Only Grezeaux is in the immediate vicinity of the cellar.
I am just looking for one good tasting/visiting experience. We are staying in Amboise, but we are going up and
down the valley. We will taste Vouvray at Huet and Sancerre at Jolivet. I’d really like our in depth visit to feature red wines If Ch. de Chaintres makes red wines, I will try them.
It’s impressive how many people think that Bernard Baudry is the best.
Huet was great. The official listed tasting is 4 wines I think? And when we emailed in advance it was a very terse reply. “Yes you can come for a tasting, no there’s no time for a tour.”
But, if you know the wines well and care about them, all sorts of other pours may appear. Johann there was a wonderful host, one of the best hangs of the whole trip. And we got a quick walk through the cellar. And he gave us directions to the vineyards and told us we could walk them ourselves, and we had a lovely stroll through Clos du Bourg.
Baudry was fantastic for the same reasons- our host was pleasantly surprised how well we knew the wines, and made sure to share some things we’d never been able to try.
FWIW I think Joguet’s wines are incredible. They’re open for tastings/visits in September and I think it’d be hard to beat that combination of great wine + readily available appointments.
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Mark,
Ch des Chaintres makes several red wines. If you want to look on CT, I am cct and recently posted my notes from there. I really enjoyed the visit there. If you decide to go there, call or email ahead of time and set up a visit. Good luck!
Loved what I’ve had from Chateau des Chaintres