Nine of us met for a leisurely lunch around the wines of Bernard Baudry this past weekend. I always had a soft spot for the wines and visited the domaine a few years ago on a trip to the Loire. To me, they represent some of the best QPR; affordable wines that are ageworthy, serious, and satisfying. The sweet spot seems to be somewhere around 15-25 years of age, IMO…
2017 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Blanc La Croix Boissée - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon
Really lovely nose with mineral, lemon, bright fruit, and a hint of flowers. Good acidity on the palate with flavors of lemon zest, a ton of minerals, salinity, a hint of white peach, and quite textural mouthfeel. Nice finish. Very impressive Chenin that should only continue to improve with age. (94 points)
2016 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Blanc La Croix Boissée - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon
Next to the 2017, this felt more advanced and not nearly as interesting. Lemon, minerals, and a slightly creamy note on the nose. Good acidity with generally richer flavors, some apples, and more minerals. Medium finish. Not a bad wine, but I felt this may have been a bit premoxed. However, I realized I tasted this wine back in 2021 with very similar notes, so this may just be the character of the vintage.
2014 Horizontal
2014 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Les Grézeaux - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon
Bright, red fruited nose with notes of cherries, currants, and just a hint of red bell pepper. Good acidity on the palate with more crunchy fruit, red berries, and a little bit of pomegranate. Nice finish. Quite lovely wine, not super complex, but very enjoyable and drinkable right now. (92 points)
2014 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Le Clos Guillot - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon
Out of this flight, this was the most fragrant wine and also showed the highest amount of pyrazines. Violets, bell peppers, and cherries on the nose. Medium acidity on the palate with a little darker fruit, more cherries, and a bit of earthiness. Nice finish. Very enjoyable, this felt like a small step up from the Grezeaux to me, probably because it felt a bit more "Chinon". (93 points)
2014 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissée - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon
A little closed at first, this needed some air to open up. Red and dark fruit on the nose with nice depth. On the palate, this was also the most backward and tannic of the wines and clearly not showing everything today. Quite long on the finish. Very promising, but this wine isn't ready yet. The fruit and structure is all there, it may just need another 5-10 years. 93+ (93 points)
Younger Croix Boissée
2018 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissée - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon
Very lovely nose with lots of fruit, dark cherries, violets, and minerals. Medium acidity on the palate with plush and round tannins, riper cherry flavors, a bit of leather, and tart plums. Nice finish. Clearly shows the riper vintage, but this is still a beautiful and balanced wine. Approachable now but I think this will reward further aging. 93+ (93 points)
2015 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissée - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon
Very nice nose with cherries, violets, more spices compared to the other wines, and perhaps a little sweeter fruit profile. Medium acidity on the palate with nice, fresh fruit, berries, and structural tannins that have started to integrate a bit. Great finish. Also very good, I had this a small step behind the 2018 at first, but with air this turned out to be just a little bit more interesting. From this flight, I'd pick this both in terms of immediate enjoyment and long term ageability. 93-94+ (93 points)
2012 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissée - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon
Good nose that needed a bit of air with red fruit profile and interestingly a little heady notes, despite it having the lowest ABV in this flight. Nice acidity on the palate with cherries, berries, and some underwood notes. Medium finish. This is drinking well now, but it doesn't feel as complex or deep as the other two wines in this flight. (91 points)
Older Grézeaux
2010 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Les Grézeaux - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon
Beautiful nose with notes of red fruit, bell pepper, violets, and black pepper. Good acidity on the palate with resolved tannins, more cherry flavors, a bit of red plums, and some forest notes. Long finish. This was great! Very interesting with good depth and distinct Loire character. Totally satisfying right now and should have a long life ahead. My WOTN. 94+ (94 points)
2005 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Les Grézeaux - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon
This felt a bit muted on the nose and not nearly as expressive as previous bottles. There's some fruit, and pyrazines together with a touch of mushrooms on the nose. Quite structure palate with dark fruit profile and earth. Medium finish. I don't think this was a representative bottle, but I couldn't identify an obvious flaw. Still, previous bottles have been excellent and this was not.
1999 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Les Grézeaux - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon
Beautiful and complex nose with red berries, old leather, underwood, and a hint of cassis. Good acidity on the palate with red cherries, more leather, and a hint of tobacco. Nice finish that lingers. This was an excellent showing! Great to see how well these wines can age. Many had this as the WOTN, but I felt the 2010 was just a little bit ahead in terms of complexity. (94 points)
However, I was a bit baffled as you mentioned almost nothing on brett. To me, Baudry’s wines are almost invariably bretty, and I’ve had a few of those above wines so I know for sure they have at least some bretty elements!
Excellent notes and reference points. Other than the 1999, I’ve had all of these wines in the past 2 years, even checking in on on 2010 and 2005 Les Grezeaux this year. Just lovely stuff, especially that entire 2014 vintage lineup!
@Otto_Forsberg I used to be a Baudry brett denier, but I think you are right, it’s just that compared to old stalwarts from back in the day, like Raffault, Lenoir, Joguet, Breton, the wines from Baudry have always seemed, um, “cleaner” to me. A typically more fresh fruit profile as well. I have noticed the Brett more on the wines as they age, but I do not think I’ve encountered a wine that was a total brett bomb that had to be dumped! With those other producers, for sure. Now all that said, my clunky palate is ok with hints of it. A little brett ain’t hurtin nobody, and doesn’t drink much…..
I’ve had a lot that seem bretty but I’m not sure now that’s what it was, because you have said repeatedly that brett doesn’t blow off (and I believe you, I know nothing about the chemistry involved). Many, if not all the Baudry “bretty” bottles I’ve had have lost it after decanting or at least a long wait before drinking. The other thing that characterises Baudry reds is poo - or barnyard, or however one wishes to describe it - again, it always vanishes with aeration. The smell is different, but I’ve a feeling I’ve been confusing brett and poo all these years - or maybe I have a problem with my drains?!
Brett doesn’t blow off, but of course fruit might grow in intensity so that comparatively brett might feel diminished. But it is definitely there and I haven’t seen brett go away from Baudry - or from any other bretty bottle for that matter - with air.
Poop and barnyard are definitely some of the most obvious traits of brett. However, there are tons of other bretty elements, including leather, game or meat, smoke, spicy or even peppery phenolics, metal or rusty character, and even some surprisingly lovely aromas like orange (chinotto) zest, lifted floral tones and notes of pineapple or mixed tropical fruits.
These elements can come and go depending on how much the other fruit elements suppress them, but usually it is the other way around - many phenolic elements that brett produces have a fruit-suppressing effect, which is why especially most Pinot Noir producers avoid brett as much as possible. With less aromatic varieties (like, say, Tempranillo) a little bit of brett can add some lovely depth and complexity, but with a very complex and fragrant variety, like Pinot Noir, the effect can be the opposite: the depth and complexity get diminished and the wine can feel just like a generic bretty red wine.
It must be the blossoming of the fruit because thinking about it further, I’ve only rarely had bretty wines from Baudry (or anyone else) that haven’t at least lost some of the smells after a decant - or better still, a recork and night in the cellar. One of those weird things, I suppose!
Especially on the younger ones, where I find the element of brett more pronounced on Baudry wines. Not so much, or gone(?), with the older-mature bottles I’ve had.
I haven’t found out that it would go away, the compounds just evolve and change from more obviously animalistic notes of leather, game, barnyard and horse stables to more subtle notes of spicy phenolics, humus, Band-Aid and metallic flavors. Especially those rusty metallic flavors can get quite pronounced in old bretty wines, even if the wines don’t smell particularly metallic.
Good point, I meant to write a note on that but forgot. I’m pretty tolerant to brett and in small amounts I think it can add complexity and character to the wine. So I don’t really look for it unless it’s obviously too much. That said, I think this set of wines was remarkably clean. The 2010 probably had a bit of brett and possibly the 2014 Guillot, but I didn’t get much of the barnyard, poop, baindaid, etc flavors that I associate with high levels of brett…
Maybe some of the other Berserker attendees can check me on this @Larry_Stein@Alan_Rath@Yule_Kim@erinmcgrath
Like Andy, I’m brett tolerant. A little is fine in Loire and Rhone reds. I agree with the assessment that the wines were clean. I took ‘14 Croix Boissée and ‘05 Grezeaux home. There was around 150ml left in each. At the point when I tried them, they had been open for many hours. No brett.
As an aside, I used to have several vintages of Lenoir in my cellar. The last two bottles I tried were wayyyy too bretty, even for me. When I saw the prices they fetched at auction, I didn’t hesitate to offload them all.
I was also in the Brett denier camp (and I like a bit if it’s the right type) but I’ve encountered it more frequently in recent years. For example 2 05 Baudry CBs tasted a few months apart about 3? Years ago were wildly different. One was glorious but one was,overwhelmingly band aidy (my least favorite form of Brett)’
That sounds really worrisome, because I’ve followed Baudry wines for quite a while, and I can’t remember a time I didn’t have a Baudry that had some brett. Not necessarily high levels, but definitely - and very obviously - perceptible levels.
I’m also in the brett-tolerant camp, but I’m also quite brett-sensitive. That means that I don’t mind brett - in many cases I actually enjoy the sense of rustic complexity it adds to wines - but I can pick it up quite easily.
However, I find it hard to believe it would be difficult to pick up brett in Baudries. I can imagine there were a few wines that had low enough levels for the brett to be not perceptible, but to me it sounds quite baffling if only a few wines showed any obvious signs of brett. I’ve lamented how some wines that used to have just the right amounts of brett in them have turned quite clean and are not showing any bretty qualities anymore (Musar, Beaucastel). However, I’ve had a good bunch of even rather young vintages of Baudry quite lately and I’ve been happy how the wines have not lost their funky qualities.
But this is definitely not the first time I’ve discussed this topic. For example I’ve found La Porte St Jean to be consistently bretty as well - even more so than Baudry - meaning that I can’t remember tasting a LPSJ that wasn’t bretty, yet I’ve seen people say how these wines are perfectly clean and not showing one bit of brett. Are we tasting the same wines? Am I just so sensitive to brett that to me these wines are very obviously bretty, but others can’t smell or taste the same flavors or aromas? Or do not people just understand that many of the aromas and flavors in the wine are bretty phenolics, but they think these elements are from the fruit and think the wine is clean, not bretty, even if they actually can smell and taste the same elements as I?
To clarify, I don’t taste for brett and I won’t note it down unless I find it out of balance. It’s certainly possible that many wines had a perceptible amount, but to me that adds to the “Loire” or “Chinon” character I actually look for. Although I note many descriptors in my tasting notes, I don’t dissect the wines surgically like some people do (you included ;))
All the wines tasted clean to me and I didn’t pick up any brett. But, I’m also not particularly brett sensitive unless the brett is severe.
Then again, it may be a case of me interpreting the earthy and leather notes as terroir rather than mild brett.
My general sense from the group was that they didn’t pick up much brett either, though one or two people said they got some hints of brett in their glass.
