Bernard Baudry, 2014 Chinon ‘Clos Guillot’
Bernard Baudry is among the upper echelon of vignerons here in Chinon. Among their top single lieu-dit wines, the wines that really benefit from a bit of long term cellaring, are La Croix Boissée, which is a very historic vineyard in the commune of Cravant-les-Côteaux, and also Le Clos Guillot, which is located in the commune of Chinon.
So the Chinon commune is certainly one of the more complex communes in the appellation in terms of terroirs. When I was visiting the region last month, it was incredible how variable the terrain is here. Unlike the neighbouring Cravant-Les-Côteaux to the east, where the vineyards slopes and aspects are a bit easier to define, the vineyards around the village of Chinon are sloping in every direction, impacting sun exposure and ripening. And we find nearly every soil possible somewhere in the commune, and there can be variation in soils between parcels that are right beside each other or just a few meters away.
Generally speaking, the soils of Chinon can be grouped in four main types. We have the alluvial soils of the Vienne on the lower lying terraces on both sides of the Vienne River. We have the terroirs on the chalky limestone slopes where we have the lower Turonian, Middle Turonian and Upper Turonian tuffeau chalks, all of which have slightly different properties. Finally, we have these higher elevation plateaus where we find two main kinds of soils: the heavier clays mixed with sands and flint of the Senonian and Eocene eras, and also we find alluvial soils of the Quaternary era again that are colluvium and wind-blown sands and silts.
And in the Chinon commune in particular, we do find all four of these groups of soils, depending on where you are in the commune and the type of slope, aspect or elevation the vineyard is one.
So, the Clos Guillot is on the slopes set back from the Vienne River, about 1.5km northeast of the Vienne. We're actually on this beautiful little south to southeast-facing slope that sits just above and behind the famed Clos de l'Olive. The Baudry family acquired their 3 hecatres here in 1991, and planted the vines between 1993 and 2000.
In terms of the soils here, there's a few things I want to note about this site. First and foremost, we are on the Upper Turnonian yellow tuffeau chalk bedrock. This chalk has a few key notable characteristics, it is the youngest in terms of geological origin of the tuffeaus, its hard and dense, with very good drainage, and does not retain moisture as well as the middle Turonian tuffeau. This chalk, when exposed as stones on the surface, actually is warmer as well. In terms of topsoil, when we're on the Upper turonian tuffeau bedrock, the soils are noticeably brown and ochre in colour, compared to those vineyards on the white Turonian tuffeau, which have a slightly different colour.
In terms of the topsoil in Clos Guillot, Matthieu explained that there is a decent amount of predominantly clay topsoil here. about 50 to 80cm. The clay and the depth of clay means that this topsoil retains water well, and it actually tends to be slightly cooler as well. And these parcels, along with those from Les Grézeaux, because of the clay, have performed well in some of the warmer vintages of recent years.
From a winemaking perspective, the fruit is hand-picked and destemmed. Fermentation is whole berry, in a combination of concrete and wooden vats with indigenous yeast. There is about 2 weeks of maceration on skins, with only some light pump overs at the beginning of fermentation. Aging takes place in older barrels for about 12 months, followed by another 9 months in concrete before bottling.
Key wine facts below:
Producer: Bernard Baudry
Appellation: Chinon
Commune: Chinon
Lieu-Dit: Clos Guillot
Soil: 50-80cm of predominantly clay topsoil, on the Upper Turonian yellow tuffeau bedrock
Alcohol: 13.0%
