We have been having a rather strange beginning to the autumn season. Last week we were visited by the remains of hurricane Kirk which gave us 24 hours of wall to wall heavy rain surrounded by other dark wet days. There were catastrophic incidences of burst river banks and floods in some parts of France. This week the weather is a lot more mild and dry with temperatures above 20°C. Usually my go-to wines for rich autumnal stews are those from the French Mediterranean rim but sometimes the more robust wines from the south-west like Cahors and Madiran can fit the bill. For Saturday I prevailed upon Germaine to prepare a typically Anglo-Irish stew, namely a steak and kidney pie in a Guinness sauce. I chose a Cahors to go with this as I thought its typical tannic backbone would be needed to stand up to the pungency of the Guinness and kidneys. I think that this particular Cahors was probably not robust enough to stand up to the true recipe using ox kidneys but we could only find the more mild and refined veal kidneys here. As it was some of the more subtle notes of tar and liquorice were obscured but the fruit and earthy touches came out well. The TN relates to the first bottle a few months ago.
2020 Clos La Coutale Cahors - France, Southwest France, Cahors (18/04/2024)
This is a consistent performer. As in previous vintages, a mix of savoury bright black fruit, earth, wet leather and olives with a touch of tar, anise and liquorice on a medium+ bodied palate with a hint of quinine plus a slight infusion of resin toward the finish. Good.
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