I had this wine with my Cassoulet since it (the wine) is from Cahors.
Chateau Matayac Cahors Vintage 2002.
Color was a great, dark red but not quite black with a little bright red at the edge. It took the legs a zillion years to start falling and the viscosity of the wine reflected this
On the nose there was a lot of earth, leather, toast, chocolate, and a hint of rosemary (?).
On the palate there was still a lot of earth, chocolate, dried cherries, prunes, and even some hay(?). The tannins were pretty strong when I opened it but the wine blossomed nicely over four hours. It really sets up camp in the mouth and has a nice, long finish.
The price was $12 (U.S.) and was a steal at that. I really like the Languedoc wines and this was a winner for me. I'm getting more.
The Bertrand Tautavel was less impressive. I got what I should have expected from this big producer: a wine that was austere and one demensional. But I have had wines from him before that I liked well enough.
On the nose there was a lot of tar and something kind of charred but the color was lighter than the nose would imply.
On the palate the body was medium-heavy with notes of blackberries, maybe. The strange thing is that after being open for 30 minutes the nose and palate took on a very strong grapefruit(!!!!) smell/taste. This caught me off gaurd. Any thoughts on that?
The vintage on the Tautavel was 2002.