WTN: Fifty Shades of Grézeaux

[David M. Bueker]

2017 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Les Grézeaux - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon (10/12/2019)
Test drive bottle from a case.

Classic Chinon, with crisp red fruit, a hint of green tobacco, and very fresh acidity. It’s clearly young, but still provides pleasure, and gets better the longer it’s open. Overall it is a medium bodied style, and the balance feels to me more like short to mid-term ager. That’s not an issue, as it is always good to have delicious wine to drink.

[David M. Bueker]

2017 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Les Grézeaux - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon (7/26/2021)
I wrote a note about this wine nearly two years ago. Red fruit and tobacco took center stage. Tonight it’s tobacco and red fruit. Still, and as always, Grezeaux exemplifies Chinon for me.

[David M. Bueker]

2017 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Les Grézeaux - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon (9/24/2022)
A little more than a year from my last bottle, and not much has changed. It’s still red fruit and green herbs/tobacco in classic Cabernet Franc style. Seems like it might need 5+ years to really start developing some additional nuance, but it’s a good drink now.

While I frankly love the entire Baudry lineup, the Grezeaux is my fave. But don't think I own the '17. Nice to read the notes in sequence.

[David M. Bueker]

If I had to choose I would also say Grezeaux.

I hadn't realized that my middle note was never posted. Did end up making for a nice time lapse!

[David M. Bueker]

• 2017 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Les Grézeaux - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon (2/7/2025)
  Gave this two hours in a decanter, and it never opened up. I am not used to Grezeaux closing down like this, but there it is.

So, normally Grezeaux…
(A) never shuts down?
(B) shuts down, but only for a year or three?
(C) shuts down but not in a vintage where it starts off drinking well young?

[David M. Bueker]

I have never had a shut down Grezeaux until this one. Hard to draw any further conclusions.

I have never had a shut down Grezeaux until this one. Hard to draw any further conclusions.

Interesting. I haven't tracked it in a while, but my memory was that Grezeaux was always more angular and structured than the other Baudry cuvees, so it wouldn't have surprised me to hear about it shutting down.

[David M. Bueker]

I have never had a shut down Grezeaux until this one. Hard to draw any further conclusions.

Interesting. I haven't tracked it in a while, but my memory was that Grezeaux was always more angular and structured than the other Baudry cuvees, so it wouldn't have surprised me to hear about it shutting down.

If I look at my drinking patterns for Grezeaux, it’s almost always been either very young, or in “fleshier” vintages. I have probably escaped the angular nature of Grezeaux (until now) because of that.