Yesterday, the UIVC, the official Cahors vintners organization, gathered a few dozen journalists in the Sydr restaurant in Paris for a tasting followed by a press lunch during which a lot of news were delivered.

The tasting was organized in a new and innovative way: the wines were segmented by their prices. Laurent Marre, sommelier and founder of the import house Black Wine Company, also co-owner of Le Balandre Restaurant in Cahors, selected the 50 wines.

- The first category, the "Popular Premium", grouped the mass market wines, priced 3-5€. The new Rigal brand, Les Terrasses 2007, the RVSO Terrasses d'Autan 2007 and the Côtes d'Olt Malbec 2005 were represented and tasted very nicely.

- In the "Premium" segmentation, priced 5 to 7€, one could taste three wines, were qualified by Laurent Marre, of "round and structured": Domaine de Cause Malbec 2005, Château des Roches Vendémiaire 2005 and Château Vincens Prestige 2005.

- In the "Super Premium" category, priced 7 to 14€, the most famous Cahors estates were represented: Château Chambert, Château Lamartine, Château Pineraie or Château La Caminade, among many others. Laurent Marre called them "powerful and gourmet".

- The "Ultra Premium and Icones" priced over 14€ and as much as 36€ were called "intense and complex" by Laurent Marre. The best of Cahors wines were offered to the press: Gaudou, La Bérangeraie, Mas del Périé and many others.

This unusual presentation surprised a few journalists but most of them had a very positive reaction to this segmentation. The reason of this approach was explained during the lunch by Jeremy Arnaud, Marketing Director: it is a first attempt at presenting to the consumers three levels of excellence in the Cahors wines. The first level will be the Cahors Malbec wines; there will be then the Black Wine of Cahors and the third will be the "Grand Cru". Several wine houses, such as Rigal, are very interested by this new way of introducing the new wave of Cahors Malbec to the consumer. In a second stage, the different categories of wines will have their own bottle designed with an embossed shield.

Various initiatives and news were announced: the first International Malbec Competition will take place in November 2009 in Bourg ; Pascal Verhaeghe, owner of Château Le Cèdre, is working on obtaining a "Black Wine cru" appellation recognized by the INAO; wine tourism is being developed by the city of Cahors; Isabelle Rey-Auriat, owner of Château Les Hauts d'Aglan, is managing the "Export Committee" in connection with Jeremy Arnaud and Alain Janicot, president of the UIVC.

It was a rich and long presentation showing how active and dynamic the Cahors Malbec producers are!