Chinon "Les Mollières"

France
Loire
2021

100% Cabernet Franc. 2020 is the first individual bottling of this particular 1-hectare plot, Mollières, which previously was incorporated into another cuvée. Mollières lies in the extreme west of Chinon, at the highest hillside location of any of Baudry's vines. It is a windy, well-exposed site with heavy clay and yellow limestone soils. The farming is certified-organic. All vineyard work, including harvest, is by hand. The fruit is destemmed without crushing and moved by gravity into unlined cement vats. Fermentation is spontaneous with native yeasts and without sulfur or temperature control; maceration lasts around two weeks with a daily pumpover and no punchdowns. The wine is aged in concrete tank for 15 months and bottled without filtration. Sulfur usage is minimal. 

93 points
"The single vineyard Chinon “les Mollières” was first bottled on its own by Matthieu Baudry in the 2020 vintage. This is a higher altitude vineyard on the western end of the appellation, with the soils a mix of yellow limestone and clay. The wine is fermented with indigenous yeasts and raised in cement vats for fifteen months. The 2021 les Mollières tips the scales at a svelte 12.5 percent octane in this vintage and offers up a superb bouquet of cassis, dark berries, tree bark, cigar smoke, juniper berries and a lovely base of soil tones. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and quite elegant in profile, with an excellent core of black fruit, impressive soil signature, finegrained tannins and a long, focused and impeccably balanced finish. This is an outstanding bottle of young Chinon and a superb new addition to the lineup chez Baudry. 2028-2065+. "
John Gilman,
View From The Cellar
July 2024

SKU/Code: 
DB4672-21
Product Line: 
Wine
Red
Varietal: 
Cabernet Franc
Farming Type: 
Organic