Patrick Baudouin: Return to Ardenay
So Patrick Baudouin grew up in Paris, divorced from the family’s vines, and from the wines of the region. In fact he says he only really became aware of the potential of the Coteaux du Layon as a young man, when wine-drinking friends introduced him to these wines and other Loire Valley classics. Experiencing these wines, realising that the family still owned some vines in the region, and perhaps unhappy with life in the city, Patrick decided to return to Anjou. Inspired, he says, by the wines of Clos Rougeard (this is not the first time I have heard the Foucault frères cited as an inspiration) and later by Mark Angeli, who settled in the region at about the same time as Patrick, he took the family vines in hand.
It was 1990 when he landed at the family domaine in Ardenay, near Chaudefonds-sur-Layon, and on his arrival he realised he had only the use of some old cellars (built in 1910), a few rows of vines and some rather desolate, unplanted land. As a consequence the domaine Patrick Baudouin has today is one that, despite his ‘inheritance’, he has established almost entirely from scratch.
Please log in to continue reading: