Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Les Grézeaux 2020

100% Cabernet Franc. Les Grézeaux is drawn from the estate’s oldest vines, aged between 40 and 60 years, planted on a gravelly terroir over limestone and clay on the Sonnay plateau above Cravant (in front of the Baudry cellar). Matthieu Baudry notes that it is a parcel that performs best in warm, dry vintages, and so, this is only made in such years (no Grézeaux was made in 2013, for example). Harvesting is by hand and fermentation takes place in cement vats for 15-20 days. It is then matured in cement until bottling two winters post-harvest. Generously flavoured with slow-building tannins buried under the weight of succulent fruit, this palate-staining wine has a depth and concentration—here balanced by bright and crunchy acidity—we rarely see in Cabernet Franc. Baudry notes that the vines in Les Grézeaux love warm vintages, and you can tell; the new vintage is a picture of svelte berry fruit lifted by a rippling sparkle from refreshing tannin and bright acidity.