February 2012

** Producteur de très grande vins LE MEILLEURS VINS DE FRANCE 2009 (One of only two in Chinon with this highest rating).

"The quality of 2009 at the best addresses is exceptional." David Schildknecht sums up the 09 vintage for Cab Franc.

“For their quality [Chinon] are absurdly undervalued.” Hugh Johnson & Jancis Robinson, The World Atlas of Wine.

We buy the Chinon from Domaine Bernard Baudry each and every year, sometimes twice a year (if possible). If we didn’t, we’d probably get lynched by the small, but ever-growing band of hardcore enthusiasts who covet an almost Masonic like secrecy around this captivating producer. The bottom line is that Baudry makes some of Chinon’s finest wines: 100% Cabernet Franc from a range of superb terroirs.

Even at its zenith, which is what we have here, Chinon is a wine that doesn’t command nearly enough respect outside the bistros of Paris or its Loire heartland. To borrow Mike... read more