My Tour de France..Cahors and Languedoc!

TN: 2012 Chateau Puech-Haut Coteaux du Languedoc Saint-Drezery Prestige.

Cellared 2/3 yrs, 14.5% alc, decanted, good natural cork, $28.00 Cdn. First bottle of 2.

Rich red ruby, slight bricking hint. Wonderful aromatics over two days, spice, dark fruits, plum I think. "Cinnamon" from across the table.
60% Grenache, 40% Syrah. Initial entry thought is some tannins, full-bodied, nice earthy finish. Plenty of fruit structure here, med acidity, nice balance. Good find in one of our mega wine stores.

TN: 2005 Chateau Lamartine Cahors.

I am never sure when is best time for a Cahors. This is the entry wine for Lamartine. Good cork, $26 Cdn, cellared at least 7/8 yrs. 13.5% alc.
Still quite opaque, hint of brick. Blackcurrant nose, spice, hint of oak still, earthy. Initial entry thought is good time to drink up...Perfecto! "Beefy" from fellow taster, very fruity, plum, cherry, dusty drying tannins.
Very nice finish, memorable wine, wish I had brought more but apprehensive at the time.

[David M. Bueker]

Modern Cahors is much more appraochable than in the "old" days. It does still seem to hold up well though, even at the low end. I have some 2002 Cahors in the cellar that likely needs opening.

Puech-Haut is a new name for me. It sounds as if I should remedy that. I'm getting out of date in my knowledge of Languedoc estates.

On the other hand Lamartine is a familiar name and I once stopped at the estate to buy some bottles of Cuvée Particulière and Cuvée Expression. Lamartine has a rather heavy hand with oak in Expression and it needed age a good 10 years to integrate it. I don't think I have had the basic cuvée but I have heard a lot of good comments about it including yours, Bob.

I agree with David about modern Cahors having become much more approachable while still capable of taking age. I have had some very nice two year olds, something which would have been inconceivable in the 80s. The scene in Cahors is quite dynamic and I regularly read about good new producers and get to sample some of them occasionally. Until a year ago a couple of local supermarkets had a line in Clos Triguedina and Triguedina Chapelle du Clos at superb QPR prices of early teens for the former and <€10 for the latter.

Until the introduction of the cork closure, Malbec gave Cahors keeping qualities far superior to those of other reds like Bordeaux and Burgundy which mostly turned into vinegar after two or three years in the barrel.