MCF Rare Wine
A Magnum of Chinon
The phenomenon of the industry portfolio tasting has finally returned this year, aka my favorite thing on earth…
Sorry, I don’t mean to be so cynical and/or sarcastic, and I do still attend many of them because they do serve a purpose and I know all of the planning and resources that each importer puts into making them happen, but the scene at them, for me, can be really hard to deal with.
A giant room, with an overwhelming number of tables to visit, each with a dozen wines on them is daunting enough as it is, but when you add in hundreds of attendees that you’re constantly jockeying for position with in relation to the pourer and the spittoon, and it makes focusing on each wine that much more difficult.
Then you remember that many of said attendees have no interest in spitting, or seem more interested in talking at each other just loud enough to let everyone within a quarter mile know how many cool people they’ve ‘crushed bottles’ with, or, even worse, are guilty of both bragging and not spitting, thus making the bragging get even louder and more irritating, and, well, for someone like me, you find yourself hyper-focused on tasting quickly, grabbing the free coffee and getting the eff out of there.
(And I’m usually there and gone early enough for the worst of that to have not even started…)
Let me be clear, though…if you’re the type who isn’t bothered by this, or has a good time in such a situation, I’m genuinely jealous of you. I’d love to be able to hang out for hours on end and leisurely make my way through all of the wines in a deliberate way, but I’m not, and I’m usually rushing to get back to the shop anyway.
So, what’s the point of all of this poopie-pants-ing on my part?
The point is this - despite all of the distractions at big tastings, I almost always come across something that made it worthwhile. Sometimes you discover something totally new, and you get really excited about getting on your shelf as soon as possible.
Or, as in today’s case, you decide to go taste the wines of a beloved producer whose work you’ve adored forever and you taste one of their current lineup that smacks the cynicism right out of your mouth and all of the noise around you seems to dissipate, and you find yourself steeped in a mix of both the pure joy that a fantastic wine delivers and the realization that said wine is exactly what your customers need heading into the upcoming season.
At the Bowler tasting a few weeks back, that table was Bernard Baudry, and that wine was the 2019 Chinon Grezeaux in a magnum format.
Put simply, it is both classic Chinon and classic Baudry, presented in a holy-crap-that's-drinking-now-but-I-also-can't-wait-to-see-it-in-5-to-7-years package. From the wonderfully generous 2019 vintage, it’s dark, juicy, herbaceous, firmly mineral and beautifully aromatic and…well…just yum…I mean, it’s everything you want, especially for an al fresco dinner some evening this Summer.
The magnum format makes it all the more fun and perfect for sharing.
And for those of you Baudry purists, yes, it’s going to age beautifully too…most especially in the greatest-for-aging vessel known as the magnum.
Perfect Chinon, perfect volume, and perfect at making the noise and distractions of life melt away and the beauty of all things come sharply into focus, where they belong.
A Magnum of Chinon…
…just perfect…
BERNARD BAUDRY
Chinon Les Grezeaux 2019 magnum
You may also order by replying to this message or calling 212.255.8870.
Matt Franco
MCF Rare Wine, Ltd
249 West 13th Street NYC 10011
212.255.8870
Looking for a wine you loved from a past newsletter or a favorite you can't find anywhere? Email Raphael at raphael@mcf-rarewine.com, and we'll do our best to find it for you!
