Grapelive Wine of the Day

By Kerry Winslow

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2009 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon, Loire Valley Red, France.
This silky and vibrant Cabernet Franc is pure pleasure and refinement with smooth cherry, blackberry, plum and plum fruits with black olives, red currants, hints of straw, fig paste, pepper and clove spice. This wine is a cuvee of two areas of Chinon, and while it is not as terroir driven as the other Baudry offering, it is more round and complete as a whole. I enjoyed the vigor and life this wine showed the minute it hit the glass, with a hint of earthy game and mineral, but fell in love with it after an hour as it opened up, filled out and gained length, it made a great evening just that much better and proved a nice companion with my new novel, with just around 13% alcohol it doesn’t interfere with the mental process all that much. Kermit Lynch has some fantastic Loire producers, and while I always like Jouget, the Baudry wines are among my favorites, especially this wine and this vintage, it is definitely not a wine to miss. Cabernet Franc fans unite and take over!
($24 Est.) 93+ Points, grapelive

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By admin