I think Nathan nailed it, at least for my palate. I know I have called it the Merlot of the Baudry stable on this site. Grezeaux is the archetype Chinon. So classic.
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The oldest Grézeaux I have had was 13 years old and tasted like it was only just out of the starting blocks, so I would be quietly confident that like most quality Loire CF, 30 years is a conservative guess. I had a Clos de L’Echo Couly-Dutheil 1990 a couple of weeks ago that was still incredibly fresh. Even the less stellar vintages age well. I remember opening a Clos de L’Echo 2001 in 2015, bought on a whim, thinking how lucky I was that it was so fresh and spritely - 8 years later, it is still going strong.
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I do tend to use SV acronym for Single Vineyard only for Baudry’s top tier wines in Croix Boissee, Clos Guillot and Les Grezeaux, and I should break out of that habit because as I learned when I was at the winery in August, even Les Granges and Le Domaine are grown on specific sites-vineyards.
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I have had Croix Boissee and Grezeaux with over 15 years of age, and I think I even had an older one at Racines in New York City. There is absolutely no reason why, in classic years, these wines cannot mature and continue to evolve favorably for more than 20 to 25 years. I often view Grezeaux as having a similar structure and archetype characteristics as Raffault’s Les Picasses, maybe with just more purity of fruit. We know these Raffault Chinon’s can age beautifully way beyond 30 years.
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Cool. Thanks for explaining, Ramon. For my part, Clos Guillot and Croix Boissee are the only two Baudry bottlings I look at buying every year. Every once in awhile, Grezeaux speaks to me, too, but more often than not it doesn’t.
Hmmmm … very interesting. Based on context, I assume you’re talking about Guillot — what has made you call it the Merlot of the Baudry lineup? I don’t drink a ton of Merlot, so the comparison is not jumping off the page for me.
Yes, Guillot. Vintage-dependent, of course, but generally more rounded, deeper fruit, and more often venturing into the darker fruit spectrum. Grezeaux has more classic structure, shows more of the herbaceous Loire CF characteristics, and more shades of red fruit.
Hmmmm … fascinating. Once our lives eventually allow us to pull some corks together, we should include these three Baudry bottlings, as this appears to be a spot where “different wines will hit different palates differently” very much applies. My impressions can get on board with the “more rounded” and “Grezeaux has more classic structure” comments, but we diverge on the other points. 'preciate your response, Robert – thank you. 
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We bring the bottles and the gloves, baby, as I’m still stung by you finding oak in Plouzeau Franc de Pied! Now all that said, if we are getting together to pull some corks, we need to step it up as well and add some Rougeard!
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We had the 1997 Grezeaux at the Loire blowout last October. IIRC, it was one of my favorites.
I forgot about that
You’re right, it was stellar
Can’t think of a better time to pull my only two bottles! And — yeah — those two Plouzeau FdP experiences have me scratching my head…
I’ll try to be there and be the referee!
Great thread. I have been a Baudry buyer since the ‘02 vintage. Grezeaux is definitely my jam. Still have some ‘05 and plenty of vintages after. It appeals to me as somewhat of an outlier. Rustic yet charming, drinks well young and with considerable age. Back in the day they were well under $20/btl. A no brainer endeavor. I believe in good vintages it will easily age as well as the top Baudry cuvées.
If LA puts together a tasting count me in.
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Note on a 1996 from 2016, TL;DR, it was awesome.
4/15/2016 rated 97 points: I expected a lot from this bottle. I’ve hoarded my last 1996 Grézeaux since 2007. This wine may be immortal. It is still young and fresh and vibrant. Kaleidoscopic nose, fresh palate with excellent length. The best Grézeaux ever made and one of the best, if not the best, wines from Chinon I’ve ever had. Fool me for not hoarding cases of this. I don’t think there is a counterpart to this vintage among modern iterations. 2002 probably comes the closest, but lacks the zing and zest of 1996. Truly great wine. Wow.
I’ve got a magnum of 1989 Grézeaux that Matthieu sent as a wedding gift, I need to get at that sometime.
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What I mean is something like this:
Croix Boissée is temperamental and you don’t know how it will show, the development is not linear. I find that to be common with wines from strong limestone soils.
Clos Guillot shows the privilege of it’s site and follows a linear, Bordeaux-like, development path. I do find it the most plush.
Grézeaux is gravelly and full of dark earth and leather. It works well at the table as a young wine but shows different sides as it ages. Generally, when Croix Boissée is hitting a drinking plateau, Grézeaux has crested and is on a slow decline.
Hope that helps.
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That is helpful, Nathan; thank you. When described like that, our Venn Diagram likely has a larger overlapping middle than does mine & Robert’s, as vaguely defined, above.