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In 1975, Bernard Baudry founded what started out as a small 2 hectare domaine (a little under 5 acres). Bernard came from a winemaking family in Chinon and had studied oenology at the Lycée de Beaune and started his career as a wine consultant in a laboratory in Tours. Today the estate totals 30 hectares and includes all of Chinon's major terroirs. The vines are now tended using organic methods. Since 2000, Bernard is assisted by his son, Matthieu, who returned to the domaine after working in the Mâcon, Bordeaux, Tasmania and California.
Baudry's clean and precise Chinons were soon mentioned in the same breath as the region's benchmark producer, Charles Joguet. With a scientist's attention to detail, Baudry maintains a state of the art cellar and perfectly manicured vineyards.
The domaine releases 5 different red bottlings with Croix Boisses currently being the estate's top bottling. (They also produce two very small production whites.) The fruity and accessible Les Granges bottling comes from sandy soils on the banks of the Vienne river.
The cuvee Domaine bottling is a blend dominated by grapes from gravel soils with a portion of grapes grown in limestone, which contributes some tannic structure to the wine.
Of Baudry's three single vineyard wines, Grezeaux (from gravel and clay soils) possesses the oldest vines; they average 60 years. Croix Boisses' vines are 35 years of age, but the site is on the chalky limestone soils that produce Chinon's longest lived wines. Baudry's youngest vines reside in what is likely to become his best site once the vines reach the proper age, Clos Guillot, which is also a chalky clay limestone parcel. The Baudrys also have .3ha of ungrafted vines planted in Clos Guillot that they often bottle separately under a Franc de Pied label.