A Weekend in the Cahors

After an agonizingly long train ride (6 hours) with my Franco-American butt in a seat designed for a French derrière, I was picked up in Agen by my Cahors winemaker, Fabrice. His hands and teeth were stained black from tasting and working on the fermenting wines, and that heady aroma of wine clung to him. God that smell rocks!


The next morning dawned foggy and very cool if not downright cold, and after some meetings and work I was looking forward to lunch with my aunt and uncle. They own a small mas (farmhouse) in the area, which my uncle, ever the bricoleur (handyman), has been rebuilding by hand. When he tires of a particular project or needs a break, he tends to focus on some smaller pieces of artwork that can distract him for a bit. Such was the case with his most recent creation, named “A Panic of Flowers”: it was painted as he listened to the news concerning the financial meltdown on Wall Street. Scattered in and out of the house are many of his works, including a huge sculpture sitting against an external wall that is, to me, someone who can barely change a light bulb, an evolving work of pure genius.

My aunt preparing lunch
My uncle showing off his "Panic of Flowers"
Painted Portals
The Sculpture
Artwork in the house
Lunch was a languid affair over the course of several hours, with locally-made rillettes de porc (shredded pork paté, absolutely heavenly), locally-made merguez, boudin blanc sausages and a fresh and aromatic ratatouille. I had forgotten how good that could smell, and it brought back many memories of my youthful summers in France with the family. Remember that scene from Disney’s movie? That’s what it was like. This was followed by an array of cheeses and finally some succulent pastries.

The table awaits
We drank a 2006 Château de Gaudou Grande Lignée, a Malbec/Merlot blend that had been aged in oak barrels to give it heft and add some complexity. Very young and tight, this needed to be coaxed out of the glass before offering rich, dark fruits and an elegant mouthfeel. Lovely with the food.

Tapping the 1733
Returning to the domaine, we found Fabrice pumping over the 2008 Tradition, Grande Lignée and Renaissance. He took a moment to pull us over to the tank with the 1733, his entry wine, a 100% Malbec focusing mainly on freshness rather than power or weight. The April 2008 frost had hit the Cahors region hard too, and he had lost about 30% of his crop. Still, the summer saw periodic sprinkles of rain, which the remaining grapes thirstily slurped up, ensuring their continuing health.

Tasting the just-fermented (and still warm) 1733
The 1733 hadn’t started malolactic fermentation yet but he let us taste it anyway and I was blown away: rich black fruits, fresh dark flowers and a zippy, almost searing acidity were followed by some puckering tannins. This was still wild and crazy, delicious yet never really coming into its own. The malo would soften it a bit and calm it down.

Pumping over the future 2008 Tradition
After I said my goodbyes to my family, he pulled me over to a section of the winery where the three tanks were undergoing remontage (pumping over). “Want to taste? It’s unfermented Malbec,” he offered, and how could I say no? He was offering me tastes of the Tradition, the Grande Lignée and the Renaissance, before these had even become wine. These Malbecs are from plots grown respectively at the bottom of the slope, midway up the hill, and at the top of the hill. Only the Lignée had started fermentation. The Tradition tasted grapey, powerful yet aromatic, there was more finesse to the Lignée with a streak of minerality and that gritty yeastiness one gets from fermenting wine, and the Renaissance was a powerhouse of the best of both. Too cool for words.

Dinner that night was a quiet but warm affair, as both Fabrice and his parents were exhausted from the harvest and all the work that goes into making wine. Still, it was nice sharing their table, discussing winemaking techniques, talking about the business (they were thrilled to have been well-reviewed by Gary Vaynerchuck on Wine Library TV – granted, he is selling the wine, though he does try to remain objective, the review’s the last one of the three Malbecs tasted), and generally chatting about things.

I left that Sunday, heading for parts South, specifically Carcassonne, where I’d be staying with my Minervois producer, Château La Bouscade.

Next: Monday in the Minervois.
Cheers!

Meet the Winemaker!

Fabrice and his mom at ViniSud
I am really excited, this week I am hosting the first of my winemakers to visit New York. Fabrice Durou, of Chateau Gaudou, will be in town to show his wines and answer questions. We will be visiting a bunch of stores in Westchester on Wednesday, then spending the entire day on Thursday in the city, hitting stores and restaurants that either carry his wines or are interested in them.

It's always a thrill to say "my winemaker", I still giggle a little bit each time. As I've said before, this is the culmination of lots of hard work and even more luck, and I am thrilled to see things coming to fruition. The reaction to Fabrice's wines has been extraordinary, to say the least, due to both their quality and their price points. Better yet, to me, is that they are quite unlike most Cahors (which are normally referred to as Black Wines, with teeth-staining tannins and tons of oak). These are elegant and balanced yet never forget where they're from.

So, if you happen to see some weird French guys pouring wines at your local store, feel free to come up and say hello and try the wines. Who knows, you might enjoy them!
Cheers!

The Work-With

The WHAT?

A "work-with" is when the representative of a winery follows its distributor's salesperson to various accounts, such as restaurants and stores. There, he talks up and pours the wine for the various wine buyers. It's a way to generate interest in your wine with both the wholesaler's rep and the people who deal with the buying public, ie sommeliers and store salespeople.

So yesterday I had my first work-with, with a great guy named Howard, who works for the Little Wine Company. They are the NY wholesaler who grabbed my Cahors producer, Chateau de Gaudou. They bought a split pallet of 2 wines, the 1733 and the Tradition. Howard and I clicked almost immediately, he was down to earth and really made me feel comfortable, which of course made my job easier.

The 1733 Label
Malbec and Tannat are the traditional grapes from the Cahors region of South-West France (MAP). The 1733 is a bottling made from relatively young vines (about 30 years old), a 100% Malbec with absolutely no oak (no wonder I like it so much!), all steel-fermented and focusing more on the grape's dark fruit aspects than its tannic ways. This is the entry-level cuvée for Gaudou, but it's still well-made and an easy quaffer. It should retail for around $12.

The Tradition Label
The Tradition is a blend of Malbec (80%), Merlot (15%) and Tannat (5%) from a patchwork of aged vineyards, most between 30 and 120 years old. Again, there's no oak here, which allows the fruit to shine through without any distraction. This wine is much more complex than the 1733, due to the blending of the various grapes. In fact, there's a flowery, fruity aspect to it, with a tannic background from the Tannat, and smelling this is as much a pleasure as tasting it. This will be around $16.

Granted, I am terribly biased, as you can imagine.

In any case, the work-with was a real pleasure. I had been a bit apprehensive, as this was my first one. And while I liked my wines, I wasn't sure how others in the wine community would take to them. After all, my tastes aren't exactly mainstream... But I was wrong to worry about anything. In fact, the response was overwhelmingly positive. Between the quality of the wines and the price points, the wine buyers loved them. Several joints in NYC grabbed 1-2 cases of both wines, to my surprise. July, as you can imagine, isn't a big red-wine-buying month, and it wasn't exactly cool outside on Tuesday (86F and 75% humidity).

Our very first stop, a little bistrot on the Upper East Side called Demare (formerly Bandol), grabbed a few cases of the Tradition right off the bat, and the day stayed positive after that. I was, as you can imagine, thrilled. We hit the UES, Alphabet City and Hell's Kitchen, and the reaction was the same everywhere. Between this day and last week's review of my Chateau de Montfaucon, I'm starting to think I chose well. Nice to be vindicated by your peers...

So I have another Little Wine Company work-with at the end of the month, but I won't be so nervous this time. I know what to do, what to say, how much to pour, and when to keep my mouth shut (probably the best thing I can do - let the wines do the talking!). I'd like to thank Howard for making me feel really comfortable and making my job that much easier. On a side note, Howard is auditioning for a TV trivia show, so let's all wish him well.
Cheers!
PS: Some of you have asked where you can buy my wines, email me and I'll send a list of places that grabbed them.