Cahors – a liquid of distinction

Jan 25 2008 by Helen Savage, The Journal

IT used to be called “black wine”. In the 13th Century Cahors already had a reputation in London as a big, blokey red (to this day, there’s no pink or white Cahors).

By the early 19th Century, the black wine was famed as the most powerful, concentrated, deep, dark wine in the world, an elixir so strong that it was used mainly as a blending agent, a few drops of which could beef up any lesser wine.

Quite how the fabled Cahors of old was made remains something of a mystery. It’s thought that the monster brew of the early 19th Century may have been concentrated by boiling the grape juice down before it was fermented to centralise the colour and the amount of sugar in the juice.

What is certain is that when Cahors began to be replanted after the devastating frosts of the winter of 1956 that nearly killed off the then ailing vineyard for good, the modern wine was little more than a good French country brew and could safely be enjoyed not only by heroes, but by lesser mortals.

When I first got to know the wines nearly 30 years ago, they were again beginning to gain more than just a local reputation, but they were essentially fruity, medium bodied and, for the most part, not designed to be cellared for long, but to be enjoyed as an easy-drinking partner to the wonderful cuisine of south-west France. Duck confit with a good Cahors remains one of those near perfect marriages of food and wine.

The quality of Cahors depends not just upon how the wine is made but upon where the grapes are grown. (I remember some extraordinary wine making practices. One old couple kept their wine “airtight” by pouring a layer of paraffin wax into the vat. Normally this floated to the top and served its purpose surprisingly well. It was only a problem if when the level in the tank dropped a bit low, it accidentally found its way into the bottles. The best sites are on the high stony limestone plateau through which the River Lot cuts a deep valley. The lighter, less demanding wines, even by today’s standards, are from vines planted beside the river on rich, deep alluvial soils. Life is just a bit too easy for them to be bothered, so it would seem, to produce the best possible grapes.

The main grape of Cahors is a black variety – Malbec. It used to be known locally as “Cot” or, more confusingly, as “Auxerrois”, but the local growers’ organisation now prefers Malbec. It’s often blended (like my wine of the week) with a little Merlot, to flesh out the fruit and Tannat, to add acidity and tannin. On its own, Malbec, though deep coloured, is not too tannic and rather low in acidity. What acid there is can be oddly but often quite attractively slightly sour. The wine tastes remarkably like a dry form of damson jam.

A few growers are determined to show that Cahors can again reach the heights of the wine of old, and one has even produced “The New Black Wine”. Like a prize leek grower he steadfastly refuses to reveal how he achieved his prize specimen – an impressively deep, powerful red wine. I’m not convinced by all the efforts to make a big, beefy style of Cahors by going all out to extract as much solid material from the skins as possible, but there are also some very good, top of the range wines around that show real elegance.

One is Château Lazgrézette, which has been cosseted in new small oak barrels for 18 months and costs a pretty reasonable £17.99 (in a series of swish outlets, including Harrods). The 2004 has a gorgeous perfume of ripe damson-like fruit. Members of the Wine Society should make a bee-line for Clos la Coutale 2004 (£5.95) – a lovely soft damson and raisin brew.

The rest of us don’t, however, have to settle for second best. Waitrose offer a superb, rich wine from one of the best estates (the folk who make the “New Black Wine”), Le Petit Clos, Triguedina 2004 (£7.99) as well as the thoroughly enjoyable wine of the biggest local co-op, Pont de Diable, Caves d’Olt 2005 (£4.99). Black it ain’t. But who cares?

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Wine of the week

Château de Gaudon, Cahors 2004, Majestic £5.99

DEEP ruby red from south-west France with a rich damson and bramble smell and a soft, dry, typically damson jam taste. Perfect with duck.

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Wine bites

IT’S rather timely that in the week that saw a glass of wine officially redefined in the UK as two units of alcohol, Marks & Spencer has chosen to launch a new line of slightly lower alcohol wines – a red, white and rosé, all from north-east Italy, all from the 2007 vintage and all with just 9.5% alcohol.

Each comes quite attractively packaged in a handy 50cl bottle.

Alcohol in wine affects the feel of the drink in your mouth (the more alcohol the “heavier” it seems) and also, up to a point (around 13.5%) helps to bring out the flavour. Low alcohol wines can seem both thin and a bit lacking in taste. L%wer Verduzzo (£2.79 as an introductory offer) is rather good. Light it may be, but it has an attractively grassy, appley smell and crisp, dry taste. It was good with fish. I recommend it.

L%wer Raboso Rosé (£3.49) is all right too, distinctly light and with a rather shy perfume, but good with cold meats. L%wer Cabernet Sauvignon (£3.49) is fine as long as you don’t expect it to taste like Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s very light, with a herby, forest fruits smell and light, juicy taste.