Hi David,
Most of the estates he mentioned i tasted at the chicago event; and did not include them in my brief report because imo they were not among the top ones.
That's fair enough, thank heavens there is still room for different tastes, and we're not all obliged to follow one single line.
I admit freely that I am not praising any of these estates for their entry level wines, which I agree are light and lacking interest. In a sense I touched on that when I talked of the dilemma facing these growers. I promise they aren't ever going to get rich from selling to the USA, their production isn't big enough and they are basically peasants without the tradition and history of exporting that the Bordelais merchants have. So their chief market is likely to remain France in the foreseeable future (even if that future isn't that rosy) and there they have to have soft, easily approachable wines in the "new world" style, if you'll forgive the over simplification. They DO have more acidity than their opposite numbers in the new world for a variety of reasons (tradition, french attitudes, food acompaniment, sun,) Serve a soft Argentinian Malbec with a Cassoulet, and you'll see what I mean. My comments were based on their better cuvées, and yes, they are oaky, tannic brooding wines when they're young. Which is why I age them.
i'm even less crazy about eugenie
What? Their "cuvée des Aïeuls" and the newly renamed "Cuvée Pierre le Grand" as well? Ah well. De gustibus...
they make some really good rose in this area. however, even though they are saignee from the red wines, they are not entitled to be called cahors.
Yeah, they're ok, but not a patch on the Bergerac Rosés from decent growers, in my view. However, if you compare both with some of the stuff purporting to be wine coming from Provence, they are as different as chalk and cheese.
To come back on Tim's "black wine" tasting notes. I have to admit I've not tasted the old fashioned black wines, I don't think much was made by the time '52 ravaged the area. However, reading contemporary writings, I don't recognize what I tasted in the descriptions. As I said... "le marketing" My "non note" says "Nose quite jammy, not _that_ black!" I have the recollection of a plum jam that I make here regularly. Also to comment on the dynamic local charter, if you're thinking of the "Grands Vins Seigneurs" this is the initiative of Georges Vigouroux whose name describes his wines well. Not many other estate belong to it. In fact, in my opinion it's done more harm than good generally. However it's more probable that you were thinking of the "Cahors Excellence", which is a sort of stepping stone towards Grand Cru status for the better estates.
But as I see it, they can't agree to "raise standards" until they have a firm perspective of what their target is to be. If it's to make wines that will please Robert Parker, (to give an example of a perfectly respectable target) then they will, in my view lose sight of what the Malbec from the area will taste like, when vinified with minimum intervention.
You asked, Tim, about RVF's booboo. it was in the issue that compared Cabernet Sauvignon blends from '96 and "surprise surprise" found that a top flight Bordeaux was preferred by the (RVF chosen) tasting team to second rank wines from California and elsewhere. A classic example of French chauvinism. I suppose it must have happened around 10 years ago in fact.
Happy days indeed if this continues to be borne out.
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