WTN: Moulin Lagrézette; a good wine but is it Cahors?

Cahors Moulin Lagrézette 2004 – Lagrézette, Alain Dominique Perrin – Alc.13.5% - (approx. €11) is made from 70 % Auxerrois (Malbec) & 30 % Merlot young vines and matured for 9 months in new oak barriques (information from Lagrézette website) and is this estate’s entry level wine.
I am in a quandary what to say about this wine. On the one hand it was a good drink showing deep colour still with rich purple tints, round and quite concentrated brambly fruit with rose petal touches, medium/full body, a quite thick but velvety texture and firm but non aggressive tannins on the finish. On the other hand it had no Cahors typicity at all, too plush with insufficient mineral notes, and little varietal typicity; I suspect that a combination of over-ripe fruit and new oak ageing was responsible for this though the oak patina was in itself quite fine and polished with none of those ugly (for me) caramel and coconut notes which disfigure a lot of Argentine Malbec. This wine could come from anywhere but was skilfully made; 15.5/20.

I recently had what I suspect was the American release of this wine from the same property, Tim, called simply "Zette" in big, bold red letters.

My reaction was much like yours, although I'd say the pendulum rested a tiny bit more on the Cahors side than the Argentinean side---primarily because there was an intriguing licorice spice element---and I mean deep, old-fashioned bitter black licorice---in the wine that remained appealling.

But I still marked it up as an obvious trendy "New World/California" attempt to jazz up Malbec for an audience that was not driven by love of traditional Cahors Malbec.

Which is okay---they do have to sell wine to keep those chateaux renovated---but not to my taste preference.

[David M. Bueker]

But I still marked it up as an obvious trendy "New World/California" attempt to jazz up Malbec for an audience that was not driven by love of traditional Cahors Malbec.

Which is okay---they do have to sell wine to keep those chateaux renovated---but not to my taste preference.

I wonder how large that audience for traditional Cahors really is? I know wine geeks like it, but even when I visited our facility in southwest France they preferred the modern style of Cahors to the traditional.

Sure does not sound like anything Cahors to me! Anything with Merlot blended in, I try to stay clear of...LOL.

Sure does not sound like anything Cahors to me! Anything with Merlot blended in, I try to stay clear of...LOL.

A fair amount of local producers use Merlot, and it's not always a bad thing. Depends on the percentages, how they grow the Merlot, other winemaking practices, etc.

But I still marked it up as an obvious trendy "New World/California" attempt to jazz up Malbec for an audience that was not driven by love of traditional Cahors Malbec.

Which is okay---they do have to sell wine to keep those chateaux renovated---but not to my taste preference.

I wonder how large that audience for traditional Cahors really is? I know wine geeks like it, but even when I visited our facility in southwest France they preferred the modern style of Cahors to the traditional.

That's a great question, David, and one that has yet to be answered. When I was in Cahors last May, at the Journees Internationales du Malbec, it became immediately clear that there was a three part focus on Cahors wines---mainly because they stated it up front, then tailored all their tastings to reflect it---and that was first, the easy-drinking 'grocery store' wine, the 'traditional' impenetrable 'black malbec' style', and the Rollandish cult fruit-oak bombs to burnish the ego.

Thing is, all three styles were well represented, and well made for the most part. And the grocery store wine was pretty much better than, say, a comparable Bordeaux. I can see it being popular in the marche' type stores as a daily quaffer in France. The fruit bombs? Don't know; not enough statistical presence or information for me to tell; not enough share of market.

What's clear, though, is that Cahors is focused on trying to do what is best for the over-all survival of their wine business. They are recognizing the importance of tradition, while also acknowledging the necessity of change in certain ways.

Sure does not sound like anything Cahors to me! Anything with Merlot blended in, I try to stay clear of...LOL.

A fair amount of local producers use Merlot, and it's not always a bad thing. Depends on the percentages, how they grow the Merlot, other winemaking practices, etc.

And a little Merlot mixed in with a lot of Malbec (and perhaps Tannat) isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I think that there is a fairy large wine-drinking portion of the population, and I speak of Dordogne, Lot and Perigord areas, where Cahors is popular, that still cared for traditional-style Cahors. I know that this is a pretty big area that we drove around in and while I noticed that some restaurants didn’t seem to care what wines they sold us with our meals, a lot of others tended to steer us to what they consider are rustic and traditional Cahors. I remember that even wine stores that I chanced upon in larger cities that we visited were giving us the run-down on the good traditional bottles. I wasn’t that keen on lugging home Cahors then, so I didn’t really pay much attention to the names.

Also, granted that it’s been several years ago, about 4 years ago, when we last visited, I don’t know if thing had changed on their preferences.

[David M. Bueker]

What's clear, though, is that Cahors is focused on trying to do what is best for the over-all survival of their wine business. They are recognizing the importance of tradition, while also acknowledging the necessity of change in certain ways.

And that's critical, as it does no good for anyone to hang onto tradition until the business dies.

What's clear, though, is that Cahors is focused on trying to do what is best for the over-all survival of their wine business. They are recognizing the importance of tradition, while also acknowledging the necessity of change in certain ways.

And that's critical, as it does no good for anyone to hang onto tradition until the business dies.

David, I believe that it is possible to benefit from modern vineyard husbandry and wine-making techniques to make the wines more approachable when young without throwing the real Cahors taste out of the window. Ch. du Cèdre, Clos Triguedina, Lamartine, Haut-Montplaisir, to name a few, all manage this even though the oak dosage in some of their cuvées is higher than my ideal. And in Hoke's easy-drinking 'grocery store' wine category, I am currently buying a lot of Ch.Croze de Pys (€5) which tastes a lot more like Cahors than Moulin Lagrézette.