Patrick Baudouin, 2010 Update
The first time I tried to locate Patrick Baudouin (pictured) at his domaine very near the little hamlet of Chaudefonds-sur-Layon, many, many years ago now, it was a complete disaster. I set out without any strong idea of where the domaine was located, other than the name of the aforementioned settlement. I drove up and down the streets – and there aren’t many, so I drove along a good number of them several times – in a fruitless search. And then, unwilling to accept defeat, I began to explore the surrounding countryside, striking out from the town in various directions, taking each road in turn. First I went up the rue du Commerce, then the rue du Stade, followed by the passage de la Montagne, in each case driving until I was lost amongst a sea of vines, with no Baudouin-dwelling in sight.
Exploring to the east, I came across Domaine Cady, nestled deep amongst the vineyards. It was all very reminiscent of my first ever visit to Huet in Vouvray, during which I spent what seemed like hours driving around and around the town. But in that case at least I finally found the domaine; with Baudouin, in the end, I accepted defeat. As if to celebrate this victory over a foreign visitor, the heavens then opened unleashing a torrent of hailstones which would have been impressive whatever the season, but they seemed particularly depressing taking into account that the month was June. I returned to my property to discover I had left a bedroom skylight open, and that the bedding beneath was soaked. It was not, on the whole, a successful day.
It is much easier to track down Patrick at the Renaissance tasting; he is a regular attendee at this event, held each year in Angers. When I met up with him at this annual dégustation in early 2010 I came clean and confessed my previously futile attempts at locating his domaine during the early years of my Loire explorations. He was incredulous, because of course his domaine is very close to the town, situated right on the roadside. Unfortunately for me the road in question leads westward out of the town, on the other side of the Layon, whereas I had diligently explored every avenue to the east, up into the vineyards. A 200-metre adventure in the other direction would have led me to my desired destination. If only Google Maps and commercially available satellite navigation had been in existence all those years ago; today, the wealth of freely-available online maps with satellite images and in-car satellite navigation makes it much easier to locate any wine domaine – including that of Patrick Baudouin, which is clearly marked on many such maps.
