2016 Baudry Grézeaux

R

Rahsaan

Rahsaan
My first Baudry in many years. Grézeaux used to always be so distinctive with that rustic coffee bean note, but this is a much more polished bottle. Still herbal-inflected, but much more supple and suave. I suppose the winemaking has evolved, as has the climate.

Overall, in a great place for my palate. Ripe cab franc currant flavors, offset by just enough herbal funk, a resolved seamless structure but still fresh and snappy.

Happy to have found this (misplaced) singleton lurking in the bottom of the CSW shelves. Initially it was not for sale, but EL kindly let it go.
 
That's a long time to go without drinking Baudry. Reminds me I should open one of my bottles soon.

I did like this wine a lot on release, though I'm trying to be patient with the rest of mine and leave them alone a while longer.
 
originally posted by Salil Benegal:
That's a long time to go without drinking Baudry..
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I don't remember exact dates, but somewhere around the early/mid 2010s, I pretty much stopped all purchases of Loire cab franc, focusing on other stuff. Nice to see that it continues to be delicious, despite my absence!
 
originally posted by MarkS:
originally posted by Rahsaan:
My first Baudry in many years.
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Yah, still going through the 09's and 10's. Those things age like iron.
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Yeah, still holding on to most of mine. They’ll come around but it’ll take time.

Mark Lipton
 
Willing to speculate it was the vintage. Or am I thinking of '06? It's all starting to run together.
 
originally posted by BJ:
Willing to speculate it was the vintage. Or am I thinking of '06? It's all starting to run together.
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Meaning 16 was softer and more polished than surrounding vintages?
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Have been going through a six-pack of 18 Grézeaux with alacrity, so maybe the winemaking has changed.
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i would seriously doubt that. any 'softening' in the 2018 vintage i would first suspect to be the natural outcome of a very warm vintage.

mattheiu (sp??) baudry doesn't come across as someone looking for new and different ways to do things.
 
originally posted by robert ames:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Have been going through a six-pack of 18 Grézeaux with alacrity, so maybe the winemaking has changed.
Click to expand...

i would seriously doubt that. any 'softening' in the 2018 vintage i would first suspect to be the natural outcome of a very warm vintage.

mattheiu (sp??) baudry doesn't come across as someone looking for new and different ways to do things.
Click to expand...

very tempted to make fun of the newbie here, but jokes aside a "feature" i've always admired among the demigods such as gerard chave, hank jayer, et al was their ability to make a more forward wine in questionable vintages that was still complete and balanced given our expectations. not sure where the baudrys belong in lofty hierarchies, but pretty high if you ask this addict.
 
originally posted by robert ames:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Have been going through a six-pack of 18 Grézeaux with alacrity, so maybe the winemaking has changed.
Click to expand...

i would seriously doubt that. any 'softening' in the 2018 vintage i would first suspect to be the natural outcome of a very warm vintage.

mattheiu (sp??) baudry doesn't come across as someone looking for new and different ways to do things.
Click to expand...

Could be, but none of the other 18 Baudrys I tasted at the importer (including the Domaine and the Granges) were as amenable to current drinking.
 
originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
originally posted by robert ames:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Have been going through a six-pack of 18 Grézeaux with alacrity, so maybe the winemaking has changed.
Click to expand...

i would seriously doubt that. any 'softening' in the 2018 vintage i would first suspect to be the natural outcome of a very warm vintage.

mattheiu (sp??) baudry doesn't come across as someone looking for new and different ways to do things.
Click to expand...

very tempted to make fun of the newbie here, but jokes aside a "feature" i've always admired among the demigods such as gerard chave, hank jayer, et al was their ability to make a more forward wine in questionable vintages that was still complete and balanced given our expectations. not sure where the baudrys belong in lofty hierarchies, but pretty high if you ask this addict.
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my first guess is that i am the one that you are referring to as a newbie. what is your definition?
 
originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
originally posted by robert ames:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Have been going through a six-pack of 18 Grézeaux with alacrity, so maybe the winemaking has changed.
Click to expand...

i would seriously doubt that. any 'softening' in the 2018 vintage i would first suspect to be the natural outcome of a very warm vintage.

mattheiu (sp??) baudry doesn't come across as someone looking for new and different ways to do things.
Click to expand...

very tempted to make fun of the newbie here, but jokes aside a "feature" i've always admired among the demigods such as gerard chave, hank jayer, et al was their ability to make a more forward wine in questionable vintages that was still complete and balanced given our expectations. not sure where the baudrys belong in lofty hierarchies, but pretty high if you ask this addict.
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as recently as 2019 (that is, for the 2019 vintage), Mathieu installed enormous cement fermentation tanks (pretty sure they weren't even made in France, but in Italy). [I say cement, as that is what they looked like to me, you get the idea, they are neither wood nor stainless.] When I asked if they were difficult to clean he laughed and said he didn't know yet!

In the last 15-20 years (the blink of an eye in terms of Loire valley viticulture) he purchased vineyards -- not very close to his existing holdings -- which were making objectively bad wine. He knew with time, and lots of effort, they would make great wine. He was right!

I'd say he is willing to try new things.
 
it looks like my hunch that mathieu would not be making marked changes to the grezeaux bottling may be mine alone. fair enough.

but, re: 2018 grezeaux: starting with the 2018 vintage and through 2020 the hot summers have made marked changes in the wines from the middle loire. try finding a vouvray from a producer that does just one bottling (i.e., not doing sec and demi-sec bottlings) where the wine is neither 1) too high in alcohol or 2) too sweet. they do exist, but you've gotta get out and look for them.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Could be, but none of the other 18 Baudrys I tasted at the importer (including the Domaine and the Granges) were as amenable to current drinking.
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I almost always prefer Grezeaux to those two.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
2016 Baudry GrézeauxMy first Baudry in many years. Grézeaux used to always be so distinctive with that rustic coffee bean note, but this is a much more polished bottle. Still herbal-inflected, but much more supple and suave. I suppose the winemaking has evolved, as has the climate.

Overall, in a great place for my palate. Ripe cab franc currant flavors, offset by just enough herbal funk, a resolved seamless structure but still fresh and snappy.
Click to expand...
And I just recently opened a 2016 Croix Boissée Rouge: a bit of funk takes a few minutes to blow off, beautiful wine, it's a funny wine in that the texture is, at best, light-to-mid weight and silky smooth yet the flavor intensity is terrific: dark fruit, salt, a teeny bit of popsicle stick, raisin maybe, before I knew what happened the 750 was gone.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Could be, but none of the other 18 Baudrys I tasted at the importer (including the Domaine and the Granges) were as amenable to current drinking.
Click to expand...
I almost always prefer Grezeaux to those two.
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Me too, but the other two can be drunk earlier, supposedly, so I was surprised at how ready the 18 Grezeaux seemed to be so soon.
 
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