In 1152, Alienor of Aquitaine married Henri Plantagenet, future king of England. The union encouraged the development of winegrowing in SouthWest France, especially in Cahors. The production of the Black Wine of Cahors, very much appreciated by the British, grew considerably during this period.

Henry III of England "enjoined in 1225 the authorities of Bordeaux not to stop nor to impose a tax whatsoever on the wines that the merchants of Cahors, under his protection, were bringing to Gironde." Moreover, during their stopover at Rocamadur, the pilgrims of Saint James of Compostela found the wine of Cahors to their liking and thereby contributed to its good reputation throughout Europe. Cahors wines reached their pick in 1310 with a production of 850,000 hl, representing 50% of exports leaving from the port of Bordeaux.

The Roman Empire conquerors brought grape vines to the Quercy region some 2,000 years ago. Within no time, the wines of the region were recognized for their quality, to the detriment of the Italian wines. In 92 AD, the Emperor ordered all the vines in Cahors to be pulled out. With no avail...

Would you like to know more about the history of Cahors? Follow our story every day on this blog...

Last week, I was speaking at the International Conference of the "Society of Wine educators" in New Orleans on Web Marketing for the wine industry. One of the most appreciated part was the case study of the Black Wine of Cahors. What was more appropriate than the two blogs of the UIVC to explain what Web marketing is about for the wine industry?

Let's go back in time. In January 2007,  after the convention in Cahors on the "Black Paradox", the French blog blackisphere.fr is open and meets the success we all know: more than 30,000 unique readers a month! In December, launch of a second blog, in English, to promote the Cahors grape, the Malbec and the Malbec International Days in April 2008. The two topics of the marketing campaign of the UIVC are covered: Cahors is black! Cahors is Malbec!

To illustrate my point I had the privilege of having the 2004 Prestige Château du Cèdre: the attendants of my session were in awe of its dark color, rich and smooth taste. It was the treat we deserved to digest the dryness of the subject!

Tomorrow the modest author of this blog will be on her way to New Orleans, Louisiana to attend the International Conference of the Society of Wine Educators. I'll also speak at the conference on "Web Marketing: Success Strategies for the Wine Business". My session is illustrated by the successful story of the two blogs of the UIVC, blackisphere.fr and french-malbec.com. Thanks to the generosity of the Château Le Cèdre, I'll end up my session with a tasting of its excellent Prestige 2004.

There are also two tastings of Argentinian Malbecs I'll attend with prestigious speakers. I look forward to telling you all my discoveries in New Orleans. See you on Tuesday, June 3rd!

In her blog, journalist and writer Jacqueline Friedrich enjoyed the 2005 Clos de Gamot:

April 24, 2008: Wine of the Week: 2005 Cahors Clos de Gamot: Jean Jouffreau’s domaine not only could be but has been the poster child for French Family Farms: in 1968 the domaine won first prize in the Ministry of Agriculture’s French Farm competition. The dog-and-pony show that followed brought the Jouffreaus to the lawn of the White House. The prize was well deserved. The eco-serious Jouffreaus have 12 hectares of vines in the Cahors appellation. The grapes for this wine, from 45 to 123 years old, grow on a terrace whose soils are composed of clay and silex. The grapes are hand harvested, at 38 hl/ha, vat for roughly 25 days (depending on the vintage) and the wine ages for 18 months in large old barrels before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. They say that the wine is austere in its youth and gains complexity and suppleness after 8 to ten years of age. I tasted this wine in the beginning of the month at Hostellerie Le Vert (see Out & About) and the word ‘austere’ did not figure in my tasting notes. Charm, however, was oft repeated. The wine was deeply colored, with heady aromas of black cherries and violets. Juicy black cherry flavors enveloped a core of solid stone. I imagine that, with age, the wine will develop spicy notes that would have married beautifully with the chef’s cumin-scented lamb but why wait? I couldn’t stop drinking it and believe that I harvested every bottle on every table in the room.