Domaine Patrick Baudouin 2003 Anjou Villages
Jul 6th, 2008 by admin
If you are visiting us for the first time, Welcome! The Wine Spies feature one exceptional wine each day – and we only bring you wines that we ourselves seek out and love. Always, the wines are great. Sometimes greater than great, as is the case with today’s wine from Domaine Patrick Baudouin.
INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY SELECTION ALERT!
We scour the globe to bring you an exceptional International wine selection – from the finest wineries in the world
Savings Alert!
Clever Operatives will receive FREE Ground Shipping on 6 bottles or more – when they enter this coupon code at checkout: FRENCHSPY (discount will be shown before you complete your order)
Mission Codename: The Devil is in the… wine!
Operative: Agent Red
Objective: Our Operatives love great Cabernet Franc. Return to France for the perfect Cabernet Franc and secure an ample quantity for our new International Sunday Selection program
Mission Status: Accomplished!
Current Winery: Anjou Villages – Domaine Patrick Boudouin
Wine Subject: 2003 Cabernet Franc
Winemaker: Patrick Boudouin
Backgrounder:
Cabernet Franc is one of Agent Red’s favorite red varietals. Perhaps this is because its flavors are often rich, layered, complex and elegant. Or, perhaps he loves Cabernet Franc so much because it pairs so exceptionally with many different foods.
One of the most notable things about Cabernet Franc is the fact that finding excellent examples can be very difficult. On a recent extended mission, Agent Red tasted a broad selection of a Cabernet Franc wines. He returned with 5 exceptional Cabernet Francs and subjected them to an extended evaluation. Here he presents his favorite.
We are also very pleased to welcome back Agent K, one of our guest Sommelier reviewers. From time to time, Agent K contributes to our reviews by her lending us her sophisticated palate and love of wine. We extend our special thanks to Agent K, whose comments can be seen below.
Wine Spies Tasting Profile:
Look – Deep, dark garnet, bordering on purple with thick, medium fast legs that glisten down the glass
Smell – Complex and earthy. Stemmy with mild barnyard, clean compost, mulch and stone
Feel – Initially wet, then dry with medium weight and grippy all-over-mouth tannins
Taste – Deeply layered, mouth coating flavors of dark fruit, moss, truffle, leather and cranberry
Finish – Smooth, with the majority of flavors that fall off quickly, leaving behind a pleasing horsey raspberry and pleasant dryness
Conclusion – One must try an authentic French Cabernet Franc if one is to understand the range, depth and complexity that is possible with this outstanding varietal. This particular Cabernet Franc exudes complexity, character and old-world charm. Not as fruity as its wonderful American counterparts, don’t let some of the descriptions above fool you. This wine is very good, and it has American-palate-pleasing fruit, which carries it along nicely.
Agent K, Sommelier, says:
”Undergrowth and barnyard drive this wine with hints of raspberry and leather. The palate is supple and mouth-coating, balanced and smooth with cranberry and gooseberry, vanilla and mushrooms.”
Mission Brief:
Frances Loire Valley is the region most famous for turning out great Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Franc is particularly suited to the middle region of the Loire Valley where Patrick’s wines come from.
Patrick Bodouin is quite a colorful character and I suspect that the devil that graces his Anjou Villages label is his alter-ego. He grew up in the Layon region of the Loire Valley but left to find his fortune in Paris where he toiled as a laborer and then as a librarian. He eventually gave up that noble profession to return to the Loire and the vineyards of his grandparents. As a winemaker (and as Parker points out), Patrick is passionate about “natural” winemaking. This term for him refers to exhorting the vines to give their best in the vineyard so that intervention in the winery is minimal and the resulting wines “natural.”
This wine is a wonderful example; a Cabernet Franc that some have called the perfect, authentic and quintessential real French Cab Franc. I agree that, if you love Cab Franc, this is certainly one to try. As the only imported Cabernet Franc to make it into my Top 5, it gets my heartiest recommendation.
Wine Spies Vineyard Check:
The location of the Loire Valley where this exceptional wine was born can be seen in this satellite photo.
Related posts:
- Wine Reports: Henri Perrusset 2006 Mâcon-Villages ($12.99) Simple fruit and subtle minerality are well balanced with mouth-watering...
