Blogging on the International Malbec Days
Since the end of the International Malbec Days held in Cahors at the end of May 2010, bloggers and journalists went home and started writing on the event. Some enjoyed it very much, like Ken Payton: he liked the vineyard so much that he proposed the Cahors professional body to write a book on the new generation of Cahors winemakers. Joe Roberts was a little more puzzled by the Cahors wines: he found some of them weird but honestly admitted it’s his own opinion we can challenge. We did and Joe is ready to come back to Cahors to taste more wines. Thanks to him for being such a good sport. Hoke Harden encountered some difficulties at the Toulouse airport he tells with humor but once in Cahors he went to work and shared his tasting notes on his blog.
Remy Charest came to Cahors with a precise mission: taste Le Pigeonnier 1999 of Château Lagrezette at the invitation of Jean Courtois, General Manager. The story behind the tasting is quite interesting. In an article published in The Palate Press, Remy expressed his dislike of the wine. Jean Courtoischallenged him to come to Lagrezette and taste blind Le Pigeonnier 1999 among other wines. Remy took M. Courtois up to his challenge and tasted Le Piegonnier blind among 8 wines from Argentina and from Château Lagrezette. Discover his “Verdict on Le Pigeonnier 1999″ and his notes on the other wines.
Carly Wray from Snooth.com was among the happy ones who went on a Montgolfiere ride over the Cahors vineyards and really enjoyed her stay as she stated in the snooth.com blog.
Finkus Bripp featured Carly Wray and Anthony Rose on his blog just before they took off in the montgolfiere in a funny video. And he loved Clos de Gamot.
Thanks to all of those writers who took the time to come to Cahors, taste the wines and write about them. We hope to see them soon again in Cahors - tasting truffles for example.
D 3 - Tasting of Cahors Malbecs
Saturday morning started by a 3-hour conference on Argentine and Cahors Malbecs, conducted by Jacques Puisais, vice-president of the “Institut du Goût” (Taste Institute), Ricardo Giodorou, President of Dolium in Argentine, Claude and Lydia Bourguignon, specialists of international terroirs, French journalist Michel Bettane and the American enologist Paul Hobbs.
After a quick lunch on the Valentré Bridge, we all jumped on a boat for a cruise on the Lot river between Cahors and Bouelle. Our tour guides were busy presenting the beautiful landscape in French, English, German and Chinese. During the cruise, we were served three wines : 2005, 1995 and 1985. Different from each other but all the best tetsimony of the incredible richness of aromas and flavours of Cahors Malbecs: the ripe red fuit of the 2005, the licorice of the 1995 and the mint of the 1985 were proof of a mellow ageing.
In Douelle, the boat cruised by the amazing fresco long of 120 meters and large of 6 meters painted by Didier Chamizo in 1992 and renovated in 2008, depicting the history of wine through biblical scenes.
We then moved on to Chateau de Cayx, property of Henryk, Prince of Denmark and spouse of the Queen of Denmark. His manager, Guillaume Bardin, took us on a long walk to the top of the vineyard: we had the most gorgeous view of the amazing vineyard propped on various levels. More surprising, there are 4 ha of Chardonnay vines planted in Cayx giving 18,000 bottles a year. The main wine is, of course, a Malbec, Le Château de Cayx, vinified in oak barrels and Les Marches de Cayx, not oaked.
While sitting on the terrace of the château, we were served the deliciously refreshing Chardonnay La Cigaralle and, of course, the “Cuvée Majesté”, a private cuvée (not commercialized) made specially for the 70th birthday of the Queen. After a day in the sun and the heat (over 100°F-about 38°C), this relaxing break was most welcome by everybody.
Time to head back to Cahors for a dinner at the La Chantrerie restaurant which is also the wine and food museum of the Lot region.
Highlight of Malbec Day 2 - A Tasting in Belaye
The International Malbec days are in full swing as all guests are safely sheltered in various hotels in Cahors and in the vineyards. The highlight of our day is a bus ride along the Lot river up to the view point of Belaye. Belaye is a medieval village overlooking a loop over the Lot River.
On the “buena vista” of Belaye there is a rest area where Anthony Rose conducted a very interesting tasting. We were seating around the picnic tables while Anthony bolddly stepped on a large stone to comment on the 10 wines selected by Cahors enologists Eric Filipiac and Mylene Doux:
- Clos de Gamot 2005
- Château de Haute-Serre, cuvée Giron-Dondine 2005
- Le Cèdre 2005
- Domaine La Bérangeraie 2008
- Château La Caminade, cuvée Esprit 2006
- Clos Triguedina 2006, cuvée Probus
- Château de Gaudou 2007
- Château de Mercuès 2007
- Château Lamartine 2007
- Château Chambert 2007
It was a very good and logical selection of wines: they were the various expressions of the different Cahors terroirs, lush, with lovely noses and, for most of them, a good ageing potential while drinking very well in their youth.
On our way back to Cahors, our tour guide, the charming Fabienne, took us on a little detour to the city of Puy l’Eveque, an other medieval city of the Lot region. In spite of the heat, we had a lovely day visiting the gorgeous country side of Cahors and tasting great wines.
D-Day: meeting all our guests in Cahors
Last night, Cahors launched the Third Edition of its International Malbec Days. Starting at 7:00pm until midnight, guests from France, the USA, Germany, Uruguay, China and many other countries gathered in the Cahors lounge next to the Valentré Bridge. In this international style lounge, more than 50 producers offered their wines to taste while, in the middle of the room, local and international chefs cooked their specialities.
Hervé Bourg, from Le Marché with Pablo Ranea from Argentina, Jean-François Dive from L’Ô à la bouche, Gilles Marre from le Balandre with Japanese chef Tomofumi Hirano, Jean-Claude Voisin from Le Vinois, Michel Carrendier from La Garenne, Jann Recourt from La Garrissade with the Mexican chef Miguel Quezada and Philippe Combet from Château de Mercuès awith Argentine chef Thiery Psozomka entertained more than 300 people.
But the party is over and this morning we were back at work with a presentation of the Malbec Terroir and the tasting of several wines conducted by British wine writer David Cobbold. In a little while we’ll be touring the vineyards of Cahors with Anthony Rose. More tomorrow!
D-1 - International Malbec Days, Cahors
Tomorrow is the opening of our Third International Malbec Days held in Cahors. Our international VIP guests, journalists, bloggers, chefs, winemakers from the US, Argentina, UK, Germany, China are packing their bags and heading to their airports to be able to attend our evening gala tomorrow.
Several US bloggers were specifically invited by the Cahors winemakers. The US are indeed a rising market for the Cahors Malbecs. Tomorrow, we’ll welcome Remy Charest, from Canado who blogs in French and in English, Joseph Roberts, a sommelier and blogger on 1winedude.com, Finkus Bripp author of WineOnTheRocks.com and Carly Wray, writer for snooth.com. Ken Payton, author of ReignOfTerroir.com, already arrived in Cahors and wrote a fascinating article on the President of the UIVC, Jean-Marie Sigaud.
During those four days, we’ll also listen to David Cobbold on the terroirs of Cahors in English and to various French, Argentinian, American and British experts on the wines of Cahors.
Please join us for four days of fun, learning, tasting and sharing!
The Malbec Academy in Cahors
The International Malbec Days are starting on Thursday May 20 by a festive evening. But since Monday May 17, the students of the Wine Master of the Burgundy Business School are hard at work in Cahors. Every morning, until Thursday included, they listen to lecture on international marketing and positioning of the Cahors wines. In the afternoon, they visit two estates - each different in style and strategy: family estates run by several genertaions, “negoce” properties such as Rigal or Vigouroux, estates recently bought by people coming from an other region and enthralled by Cahors and its terroir.
The students also share the life of a family in the Cahors vineyards. THis total immersion in the life of the Cahors wine world make then the best advocates of Cahors Malbecs once they graduated and started their professional life in France or abroad.
Welcome to them in Cahors!
Cahors Wines on iPhone and BlackBerry
The Cahors Trade Organization invested heavily in new technologies for its communication. Last but not least, if you buy a bottle of Cahors wine in the US, you’ll see a little carton board around the neck of the bottle: it is a “Wine Graph©“. To read the WineGraph© and access the video, you just need to download the application i-nigma. Then you can scan the graph and watch a video on how to taste a Cahors wine, cook like a chef or visit the vineyards. You can even listen to the “Cahors song”.
Enjoy the latest technology when drinking a nice glass of wine.
Gary V: “The winner is Château Cayrou 2005″
Gary V is certainly one of the best supporters of Malbec in the US. He just loooooooooooves the wine. That’s why he very often tastes Malbecs from Cahors and Argentina on his WineLibrary TV program. On April 16, he brown bagged two Malbecs - one from Argentina and one from Cahors and tasted them live. Guest what? Cahors was - once again - the winner with the gorgeous Château Cayrou 2005. Congratulations to the winner!
Americans in Cahors for the Malbec Days
The International Malbec Days are just a few weeks away. Our American friends and guests are now getting ready to fly to Cahors: journalists, bloggers, enologists and wineries are on our guest list.
In the US, Malbec is a very small and exclusive production. Just a very few wineries are making 100% Malbec wines. Among them, there is Peachy Canyon winery in Paso Robles. The owner, Doug Barrett, is more famous for his Zinfandels that were recently presented at the American Wine Tasting in Paris featuring Zinfandel as the guest of honor.
I had the pleasure of tasting all Peachy Canyon winery Zinfandels last summer but was also absolutely amazed by the quality of their very exclusive Malbec wine, funnily named Ms. Behave. I tasted the 2006 Ms. Behave full of black berries aromas and flavors. I look forward to tatsing their 2007 in Cahors!
Cahors Malbec on radio
During the Second US Malbec Tour in March, Erin Fitzpatrick interviewed Lucien Dimani, one of the owners of Domaine Le Bout du Lieu for HeritageRadio.
