Domaine Grosbois, 2023 Update
News of the recent sale of Chinon’s Domaine de Beauséjour to Ivan Massonnat of Domaine Belargus, the Chauveau family eventually letting go of their prize possession after several years of on-off negotiations, will doubtless cause Chinon drinkers to refocus their gaze on the vineyards and wines of Panzoult. Long overlooked in favour of more prestigious tuffeau-rich terroirs downstream, where we find the appellation’s most famed domaines, this is surely a good thing for this distant corner of the Chinon appellation.
Having said that, there are one or two worthwhile domaines here upon which I have long been keen to shine the Chinon spotlight. Upstream, on the edge of the village of Panzoult itself, are the rather swish Baudry-Dutour facilities, where Christophe Baudry and Jean-Martin Dutour vinify the fruit from their collection of Chinon properties. And two domaines very recently profiled, Domaine de Pallus and Domaine Fabrice Gasnier, are also close by; although to be fair I am cheating here, as both are literally a few paces over the border, just the other side of the boundary between Panzoult and Cravant-les-Coteaux.
Somewhat closer, and actually in Panzoult, is another domaine I have been following for more than a few years, none other than Domaine Grosbois, where Nicolas Grosbois fashions an interesting array of wines, largely from the alluvial and gravelly soils of the Panzoult plain and terraces. During the course of the past 18 months I have met up twice with Nicolas, to taste through his portfolio of wines, including recently introduced cuvées such as Moliers, Glacière and Montet. In this report I present my latest tasting notes on the wines of this paragon of Panzoult.
