WTN: Who drinks Cahors?

[Jenise]

So my wine blogger buddy Margot came over the other night with some free sample Southern France wines. Her specialty is WA wines and European wines are a mystery so she wanted some help tasting them (and then deciding whether they were worth posting about). One was a Cahors.

In preparation for this post I suspiciously checked to see when was the last post here about a wine from Cahors. Other than a glancing comparison of aspects of a Leoville Barton to Cahors by Dale Williams two months ago, one must then go back to March of this year to find the last post by Tim York which included a telling comment by Bob Parsons "I'm never sure when to drink Cahors." Judging by the amount of notes here about them, there seems to be a group answer to Bob's comment: NEVER.

I'm not a fan: exactly two of the 1900 bottles I own are Cahors and I never think about opening them. Or at least I didn't until Margot showed up with hers:

2017 Domaine de Fages Cahors Cuvée de Dionysos Malbec
Initial ripe nose and flavors of cooked strawberry and cactus give way an hour or so later to a Heinnekin beer kind of skunkiness. Nothing black about it, except perhaps the eye one should give to whoever sent it. Gross, and zero typicity to either region or grape.

So I reached into my cellar to show Margot what real Cahors is like:

2014 Paul Bertrand Cahors Crocus Malbec
Made by American winemaker Paul Hobbs. Black and impenetrable color. Dense woody flavors lacking a fruit identity, claylike and dry. Not uninteresting, but the opposite of seductive. Not sure what use I have for a wine like this.

Paul Hobbs? Alarm bells ringing here.

[David M. Bueker]

So I like Cahors a great deal. The issue is availability.

There are two very different schools of winemaking in the area. I prefer the old school, with a little improvement to vine management and winemaking technique. The heavily extracted and over oaked Argentine wanna-bes bore me.

Not us, for two simple reasons. Main one is that Jo will not drink Malbec, and there are so many other wines.

I like Malbec and when on my own will choose Malbec but from Argentina. Gaucho's steakhouse imports Argentinian meat and they have their own Malbec vineyard in Argentina and I always choose that when I am on my own in Gaucho's.

I read that Cahors and Argentinian Malbec winemakers were having a joint Malbec festival, alternating between the two regions. The Cahors winemakers have seen how successful Argentinian Malbec has become in a short time while they've been making Malbec for centuries without that success and they want to pick up some of the winemaking habits of the Argentinians.

The Cahors I've had in the past have been rustic...

If a winelist lists Malbec it is almost always from Argentina, and I noted in the USA the red wines by the glass included Malbec and it was the only non USA wine

[David M. Bueker]

Shiraz used to be the only non US wine by the glass in small/non-wine oriented places. Malbec took its place.

Shiraz used to be the only non US wine by the glass in small/non-wine oriented places. Malbec took its place.

And before Shiraz it was Merlot. All grapes with 6 letters in the name. Coincidence? I think not!

While you are here Rahsaan, may I wish you and your family a great festive holiday!!

Best Bob

I'm a fan of Cahors. Availability here used to be good with supermarkets stocking estates like Triguedina, Chambert and the entry level cuvées from le Cèdre amongst others at reasonable prices. These estates make wines in a quite modern style which are accessible much earlier than traditional Cahors but without IMO the exaggeration of Argentinian look-alikes to which David refers. I felt that in the <€15 range they usually offered better value than equivalently priced Bordeaux, also with Atlantic character but distinctive. Lately I have seen less of them on the shelves and I attribute this to an attempt by these producers to acquire a more up-market image. There are lots of new producers getting good reports in the French press, some of whom are experimenting successfully with maturing the wines in amphorae. However, availability here in Normandy is poor and I guess even worse in the USA. If I see one at a caviste, I will snap it up.

As for trying to march in step with Argentinian Malbec, that is not new. I attended a Malbec festival in Cahors in 2008 which was graced by the presence of a lot of Argentinian producers. I felt then, and still do today, that trying to hitch onto Argentinian Malbec varietal coat-tails for marketing is a two-edged sword. The producers are tempted to make those Argentinian look-alike wines and cannot really succeed because of climate, different clones and terroir. The Cahors style is quite distinctive, more mineral and tannic, at its best from superior sites producing wines of an upright distinction which I have not found from Argentine. Marketing wines like that as "Malbec" is likely to confuse the consumer.

[Jenise]

Paul Hobbs? Alarm bells ringing here.

As well they should.

[Jenise]

Peter, et al: malbec is gaining a lot of traction here in Washington state, and it's in high demand. Thing is, when a winemaker makes a malbec, they tend to price it right up there with cabernet and the rest--he/she can't realistically make it any more cheaply than anything else. So though a lot of winelovers "get it", no one walks into a Total Wine asking for Washington Malbec or even serious Argentine malbec. The people seeking out that grape are looking for the easy drinking Argentinians at $12/bottle.

[And before Shiraz it was Merlot. All grapes with 6 letters in the name. Coincidence? I think not!

What's next? Should we be investing in Tannat or Mencia?

I do like Cahors (at least old style) but it's not really as available as I remember from years ago, when most good stores carried at least one (usually Cedre or Clos Coutale)

Peter, et al: malbec is gaining a lot of traction here in Washington state, and it's in high demand. Thing is, when a winemaker makes a malbec, they tend to price it right up there with cabernet and the rest--he/she can't realistically make it any more cheaply than anything else. So though a lot of winelovers "get it", no one walks into a Total Wine asking for Washington Malbec or even serious Argentine malbec. The people seeking out that grape are looking for the easy drinking Argentinians at $12/bottle.

That explains why - of the red wines offed by the glass - Malbec was the only non USA wine, and (and this puzzled me) it was always cheaper than the USA wines.