Wine Focus April 2022 - Malbec & Cava

[David M. Bueker]

Doubling up with a couple of overlooked options in the world of wine. Malbec grew up in France as the black wine of Cahors and a blending grape in Bordeaux, but made a home for itself in Argentina.

Cava has been overlooked, maligned and often completely forgotten, but there are now any number of higher quality examples that bring a sparkle to life for a much more comfortable price than Champagne.

Let’s pop some corks as spring makes its presence felt.

[Robin Garr]

Mmmmmalbec! I'll kick things off not from Argentina but back to the source, Cahors in France, with this goodie from Kermit Lynch. Good QPR under $20, too!

Clos la Coutale 2018 Cahors Malbec ($18.99)

Clos la Coutale Cahors takes us back to the roots of Malbec, in a good way. Very dark purple to a thin garnet edge, it needs a little time to open up in the glass, whereupon it reveals enticing aromas of red plums, tart cherries, and cranberries that carry over in the intense, rather rustic flavor, with marked acidity and a pleasant earthy back note that translates to firm tannins and red clay on the palate. A blend of 20% Merlot with the Malbec, it's 14.5% alcohol. U.S. importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, Calif. (March 26, 2022)

FOOD MATCH: The Kermit Lynch website mentions that duck, and duck fat, are the traditional match in Cahors, as well as cassoulet with an aged bottle. Its firm, acidic, rustic character suggest roast beef or game, but it's flexible. We enjoyed it with a hearty dish of spaghetti with polpette in garlicky tomato sauce.

WHEN TO DRINK: It's drinkable now with a good food match, but Lynch points out that wine maker Philippe Bernède "is not afraid to pull out older vintages of his wines alongside much more expensive Bordeaux. They stand up pretty well! "

VALUE:
Wine-Searcher.com's $17 average U.S. retail for all vintages, $18 for the 2018. Frankly, it's a fine value in the upper teens or even a few dollars more.

WEB LINK:
Importer Kermit Lynch is famous for his detailed fact sheets on the wines he imports. Here's his Clos la Coutale page.

FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
Check prices and find vendors for Clos la Coutale Cahors Malbec on Wine-Searcher.com.

Follow this Wine-Searcher link to find more information about Cahors and links to vendors for dozens more Cahors wines.

Click here for information on all of Kermit Lynch's wines and to sign up for his newsletter.

[Jenise]

Well shit howdy, guess what I had yesterday? A sparkling malbec from Argentina--talk about good timing!

Served blind, it was Bill Spohn's opener for a South American wine-themed lunch: 2018 Trumpeter Extra Brut. Pretty, very pale salmon color (I've noticed that malbec roses are usually on the orange side of pink, too) with strawberry-cranberry and mineral notes, very dry and crisp, and a very fine pin-prick bubbles. Around $20 Canadian--DEAL, would have thought twice that.

Oh, and how many other malbecs showed up at this tasting for me to report on? None. I had one in my bag as a backup (which wasn't even South American, such is the paucity of this geographic location in my cellar holdings), but apparently South American malbec isn't popular with our group.

[David M. Bueker]

I think I own two varietally labeled Malbecs, and one was a gift. There are a couple of Cahors in the cellar...somewhere.

[Jenise]

I have a few Cahors as well, old ones. No better time than now to find out how good they are.

[Jenise]

Well, it turns out there was indeed a Malbec at Bill's South American lunch, but it was a clunker:

2017 Bodega Catena Zapata Malbec Catena Alta Historic Rows Mendoza
Had been decanted for four hours. Big VA nose, extracted and sweet, so much so that the first guess was tannat. Undrinkable.

[David M. Bueker]

Dug a Cahors out of the cellar. Need to let it stand up for a few days, then I will give it a whirl.

[Jenise]

I'll do likewise, David. I'll also open at least one WA malbec. But hey, true story: a few years ago I made malbec the topic of one of our neighborhood tastings and unable to find any domestic product at retail up here I went south to Seattle to investigate at one of the giant Total Wines. And what did they have? Nada. Just the cheap $12 and under South American malbecs--a much worse selection than had been available up here! Zero WA wines, though I knew of a number of wineries producing them.

The problem is that the Washington versions run $40-50, priced right up there with cabs and merlots. Per the store manager: the typical Total Wine customer only buys malbec because it's cheap, not because it's good. The guy who can afford $50 wines is buying something else.

And wines like the Catena I mentioned in a previous post wouldn't change anybody's mind.

[David M. Bueker]

Any idea how much that Catena cost? I have had some really good wines from them, so didn't expect such a clunker.

I have also pulled a bottle of Lagier Meredith Malbec. Also in the $40-$50 bracket. Of course they only make like 50 cases of it a year.

[Jenise]

Dunno about price, but the gentleman who brought it always brings nice stuff....okay, here. U.S. price on that Catena is around $46 avg per Wine-Searcher. And I agree--generally a solid producer.

[David M. Bueker]

• 2018 Lagier Meredith Malbec - USA, California, Napa Valley, Mt. Veeder (4/4/2022)
  A couple of hours in the decanter are absolutely mandatory, and after that it turns into an umami bomb, with deep savory elements riding over the top of tightly wound black fruit. The more air it gets the more the blackberry fruit comes to the front, but it remains a more savory than fruity wine. There’s ample depth and structure for the several years of aging that it clearly needs to open up as express itself.

Clos la Coutale 2018 Cahors Malbec ($18.99)

I agree with your assessment of Clos la Coutale; a modern accessible Cahors which still tastes like Cahors, unlike many others. Here in France, it is even better QPR at about €8 and is widely available in the Nicolas chain in wine shops.

Freixenet-cordon-negro-20220403.jpg

N.V. Freixenet Cava Cordón Negro Brut (Spain, Cava)

We had a glass of this as an aperitif before Sunday dinner, and another glass last night. Freixenet is a long time favourite, instantly identifiable in its black bottle. This was bought in August 2020. The price here has been all over the place, but in the recent 25% off deal it was even lower than the price I paid during the same deal in 2020, so I bought another 6-pack.

What I like about Cava is that it's a traditional method sparkler that isn't trying to be Champagne: it's made from Spanish varieties - Macabeo, Xarel.lo and Parellada, tho' more Cava's(but not this) are including Chardonnay.

Clean fresh and dry, taste of green apple. Very refreshing.

[Jenise]

I haven't had one of those in eons, Peter. Bought my share of them back in the day, though.

Say, on Malbec, I just checked the inventory of my local retail store. Of I don't know how many gazillions in the entire store, the total number of malbecs available? Eight, which included two WAs. I put in an order for a 2019 A Lisa Noemia Patagonia which got 90 points from Galloni. Not that I live by scores but at least someone I calibrate well with thought well of it, and throw in my experience with two Patagonian wines last week sounds like a worthy thing to try.

[David M. Bueker]

I have had any number of Patagonian wines, mostly while actually there. They tend to be a touch less "heavy" than the Mendoza stuff.

[Jenise]

Yes, exactly. Cooler climate, and all that. I look forward to trying this Malbec.

Amongst my most interesting events in the 20+ years since I retired from professional life was the International Malbec Festival at Cahors in April 2008. It was intended to help Cahors in its quest for renewed fame on the back of the Argentinian success of its grape variety Malbec (AKA Auxerrois, Côt...). I reported on it extensively and I think that it is worth providing a link to my notes on the qualities of the Malbec grape - viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15201&hilit=malbec .

I drink quite a lot of Cahors and find that there are several decent performers in the €10-20 range and sometimes even less like the Clos la Coutale, on which Robin has written a TN. A generation ago Cahors needed plenty of time before it was approachable but when mature it could be classy in a rather austere way with earthy minerals, leathery hints and firm tannic structure. Nowadays there are cuvées which are delicious as young as 1 year of age and many which are showing increasingly sweet fruit rather in the Mendoza vein but which are in the process losing Cahors typicity. A standard bearer of the traditional style is Clos de Gamot, of which I have just one bottle left in its 2005 vintage.

Malbec is also grown in the Loire valley under the name Côt but I have not seen any bottles around in local caviste shops. I would grab one from la Grange Tiphaine or Henry Marionnet on sight. There are also an increasing number of Bordeaux with a substantial Malbec content.

Here is a Malbec from Mendoza with a French accent. There are many modern Cahors quite like this.

2020 Domaine Bousquet Malbec - Argentina, Mendoza, Valle de Uco, Tupungato (05/04/2022)
This Malbec from Mendoza is made by a French owned family firm and avoids the goopiness, over-extraction and aggressive oaking of many of its kind. Indeed it is a good buy at c.€9 for anyone looking for a robust and deeply coloured red with dark fruit, a sprinkling of spice, smooth texture, decent balancing acidity and firm ripe tannic structure. Good.


And here is another coming from France which claims no specific geographic origin.

2020 French Beaches Liaisons Dangereuses - France, Southwest France (24/09/2021)
I tend to avoid wines which are unclear about their geographical origin, but I have to admit that this one is good. It is derived 100% from organically cultivated Malbec and is medium bodied, full of exuberantly juicy round fruit not unlike the blackberries I am picking from the hedgerows these days, but more complex than that, together with fresh moreish acidity, smooth texture and soft hardly perceptible tannins. Good+ wine and eminently quaffable but at c.€14 not especially good QPR.
Posted from CellarTracker

[Jenise]

So we picked up dinner from a brand new Barbecue joint in Bellingham and invited friends over. Perfect time to roll out some Malbecs, right? I opened these two:

2005 Château du Cèdre Cahors Le Prestige Malbec Blend, Malbec
Not mature per se, no leathery old-wine flavors (sadly). And not youthful like the 2019 Patagonian malbec it was paired with, just more integrated and a shade grayer to account for the almost-15 year age difference. Plummy dark fruit with sage and parsley plus, unfortunately, underneath everything else was also a layer of volatile acidity which I have zero tolerance for (it tastes like bile).

2019 Bodega Noemia de Patagonia A Lisa Río Negro Malbec
Vibrant black currant and boysenberry fruit with nice cool-climate spice and minerality. I preferred it to the aged Cahors it was paired with: even though it too suffered some volatile acidity, the fruit made it
easier to ignore the VA.

So I'm 3 for 3 with volatile acidity on malbec. What's with this grape??????

[David M. Bueker]

I don’t know. How do you feel about Barbera? I ask because that’s the grape where VA seems to happen most often for me.

[Jenise]

Don't recall a problem with barbera, David, though admittedly I don't drink a lot of it.

Don't recall a problem with barbera, David, though admittedly I don't drink a lot of it.

I don't recall a VA problem with Malbec in recent times but I am more than tolerant of wine "faults" like that including brett and pyrazines, provided they aren't dominant.

[Jenise]

Tim, just read back thru this thread and am interested in your greater experience with the grape. Coincidentally, on another forum someone just asked about the tertiary qualities in aged malbec. A recent experience is suggesting to him this grape doesn't 'go there', and he's not getting a lot of answers. Most either have no experience past the 10 year mark, and then there's me who shared the notes I posted here comparing the young Patagonian to the '05 Cedre and not finding much difference. I mean, there was some there, but when I called the older wine "only a shade grayer" I was basically saying the wine lacked the tertiary qualities that delight me about aged red wines.

What's your experience with tertiary-ness?

Jenise, looking through my TNs on Cahors over the last 10+ years, I find that I don't have a great deal of experience of Cahors older than 10-15 years old, unlike with Bordeaux, Burgundy and N.Rhône where I have seen quite a few 20-30+ year old bottles. That is partly because the renaissance of Cahors is quite recent and only started gathering pace in the '00s. Probably because of that, I too don't recall many tertiary notes in Cahors but I do find that about 10 years is beneficial to tame the tannins of traditional style wines and the excess oak of many in the modern style. All the Malbec I have had from other regions has been too young for me to draw conclusions about how they age, if I except an unusual aged example from Weinert on which I'll try to locate a TN.

Ability to resist and retard oxidation is one of Malbec's qualities which made the fame of Cahors before the days of bottling under cork. So it is quite logical that tertiary notes take some time to appear. Here is a TN on the oldest Cahors I have drunk in recent years. I don't make reference to tertiary notes but another CT contributor at about the same time did; different cellaring and corks can make a lot of difference.

2001 Clos St. Jean Cahors - France, Southwest France, Cahors (21/08/2020)
I visited this estate in the 70s or 80s when the late Jean Jouffreau was still in charge and well remember his juicy character and wise remarks delivered in a pungent South-Western accent. He was a quality leader in those days and the estate remains a standard bearer in traditional Cahors. This is the probably the best bottle I have had from them in recent times and I could have taken it for a mature GC or top rank bourgeois Médoc from a good year. It showed depth, still fresh red fruit, classy minerals, a discreetly fragrant overlay, fine matt texture and decently firm and long finish. I had to search a bit for Cahors typicity but think I found it in delicate notes of tar and earthiness. Very good.
Posted from CellarTracker

I can't find my notes on that Weinert Malbec. IIRC it was Weinert's Malbec Gran Reserva 1997 drunk sometime between 1998 and 2000. If I wrote a note, it would be in the old archive which I think is no longer accessible. My memory is of an extremely fine dry but rich wine in a slightly oxidative style.