Wine Focus April 2022 - Malbec & Cava

[Jenise]

Well, well, well, look what we got here: a really great malbec!!!

Opened last night to pair with charbroiled burgers, and I include my note on the one previous bottle of this I opened over 6 years ago:

2005 Le Clos d'un Jour Cahors Un Jour
4/12/2022
Decanted; little sediment. Floral/juicy/tangy boysenberry and black raspberry fruit with a very attractive Cote Rotie-ish vein of burnt rubber in it. Doesn't resemble any other red wine I can remember having, but in the ways it's different it's wonderful. Not tertiary per se but very much in the zone and evolved from where my stodgy one other bottle was in 2015. Loved it.

12/31/2015
What? In ten years nobody else has TN'd this wine?
But I digress. Inky black, firm and dense, rewards food, very good but probably not peaking for 3-5 more years. I'll put the drinking window out to 2020. Not that anyone will be looking at it....


Btw, I noticed while there that I've posted notes on 53 malbecs. Surprises me as it's a wine I think I never drink. But they do show up from time to time at parties and in winery tasting rooms, and I see that my experiences with WA versions has been mostly very positive. Of those 53, 7 showed some V.A.

[David M. Bueker]

Notes on Cahors are reminding me of all the times I was on business trips to Figeac, France. It's quite close to Cahors, and I had a lot of good ones on those journeys.

Clos d'un Jour is a dynamic young small estate which is making a name for itself, in particular for its cuvée Un Jour sur Terre which is matured in terracotta amphorae. Alas, I have never had one of its wines.

[Jenise]

Clos d'un Jour is a dynamic young small estate which is making a name for itself, in particular for its cuvée Un Jour sur Terre which is matured in terracotta amphorae. Alas, I have never had one of its wines.

Tim, too bad. I know you'd have been very impressed with what we drank last night.

[David M. Bueker]

• 2002 Château de Haute-Serre Cahors - France, Southwest France, Cahors (4/12/2022)
  Twenty year old Cahors…why not. Cork snapped in two, but I got the bottom half out intact, so no harm done. Color is still deep and dark, with no fading. Looks like a new release wine. Red fruit, herbs, mint, a bit of green tobacco and a touch of cedar on the nose, are largely echoed on the palate. It’s still got a fair depth of fruit, and also a substantial dose of tannin. It’s never going to get soft. I have one more, and will not really worry about when I get to it. The wine will wait.

I used to find Haut-Serre locally years ago but Robin`s selection is everywhere. Anyhows here is my impression on this Malbec from Bergerac. The last bottle i tasted was the 2018 but did not post here for some reason

2019 Chateau Laulerie Malbec Bergerac.

Good natural cork, $22 Cda, 13.5% alc, went nicely with prime rib dinner, 4 participants.

Big deep color dark plum. On the nose plum, cherry, blueberries. Taste was medium bodied, black fruits, intergrated tannins. One taster found some graphite and hint of cocoa. Me no pepper.
Big fan of this chateau, their Cab Franc is very good but in limited supply. I will get another Malbec when downtown and cellar for 2 yrs.

This is another example of the good value which can be found with a bit of luck in Cahors. The estate doesn't rank in the French guides like the RVF and Bettane/Desseauve but that did not stop me trying it when I saw it in a shop specialising in organic products and I am glad I did. It is definitely Atlantic in style with greater freshness than I have ever found from Mendoza and could almost be mistaken for a left-bank Bordeaux costing 50%+ more.


2016 Château Les Hauts d'Aglan Cahors - France, Southwest France, Cahors (27/04/2022)
This is a very satisfying Cahors and so like its 2015 elder brother that I can borrow most of my TN from that vintage. Modern in the sense that it was easily accessible in its 6th year with its gracious fruit and warm round undertow and fragrant overlay but it also showed some typically earthy minerals, liquorice hints and enrobés tannins. One difference is higher alcohol (c.14% vs 13%) but this did not show on the nose or palate. Good+ and very good QPR at c.€11.
Posted from CellarTracker

Incidentally the bottle carries a Vegan sticker. What does this imply in wine-making? All I can think of is abstention from use of egg whites for fining.

[David M. Bueker]

This is another example of the good value which can be found with a bit of luck in Cahors. The estate doesn't rank in the French guides like the RVF and Bettane/Desseauve but that did not stop me trying it when I saw it in a shop specialising in organic products and I am glad I did. It is definitely Atlantic in style with greater freshness than I have ever found from Mendoza and could almost be mistaken for a left-bank Bordeaux costing 50%+ more.


2016 Château Les Hauts d'Aglan Cahors - France, Southwest France, Cahors (27/04/2022)
This is a very satisfying Cahors and so like its 2015 elder brother that I can borrow most of my TN from that vintage. Modern in the sense that it was easily accessible in its 6th year with its gracious fruit and warm round undertow and fragrant overlay but it also showed some typically earthy minerals, liquorice hints and enrobés tannins. One difference is higher alcohol (c.14% vs 13%) but this did not show on the nose or palate. Good+ and very good QPR at c.€11.
Posted from CellarTracker

Incidentally the bottle carries a Vegan sticker. What does this imply in wine-making? All I can think of is abstention from use of egg whites for fining.

Yes, probably no egg white fining. I think there a couple of other things that are applicable, but they are escaping me right now.