Breakfast Chinon

Sleep has been avoiding me of late. Perhaps it is has noticed the staggeringly lurid spot I have on my nose and so thinks I am a witch and might put a hex on it. Whatever the reason, I am feeling distinctly spent and shagged out after another night awake. Consequently, I think it only reasonable to have a glass or two of something serious for breakfast in order to fortify myself for the day ahead.

Observant readers will recall I have [link2post id=”5246″]recently tried a Bernard Baudry Chinon[/link2post]. That was his basic offering and, as I rather enjoyed it, I was looking forward to popping one of his top cuvees to see how it measures up. My first sniff tells me this will be a totally wizard sharpener after a draining night of tossing in bed.

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Chinon ‘La Croix Boissee’ 2007, Bernard Baudry

I love the ripe fruit on the nose, it is somewhere between raspberries and blackberries in character. As I only have a passing interest in fruit unless it has been pressed and fermented I don’t know the name of such a fruit, but I can assure you it smells delicious. There is a herbaceous aroma to it that doesn’t smell unripe in the textbook ‘green’ sense, but it is definitely leafy. It is clearly ripe, but there is nary a hint of an alcohol burn. No silliness with vast amounts of new oak, either. It is a complex nose of real personality with that unknown fruit, savoury leafiness and a totally winning stone/earth scent bound up together in beguiling harmony making it a delight to sniff. Yum. The acid and tannin on the palate have a very slight suggestion of spikiness, but as far as I am concerned the mouthfeel is that of a properly elegant and refined wine which delivers its classy characters with a cool, sophisticated ease. That spikiness is a product of the wine’s youth. Even given its attractive elegance right now I feel my vinous sense tingling to say this has a shed-load more pleasure to give in the future; I will definitely be keeping my other two bottles. I cannot think of a better young Cabernet Franc I’ve tasted since the sadly departed glory days of Joguet in the early ninties. Cracking kit.

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