Jamie Oliver visits Chateau Chambert

Jamie Oliver recently visited Chateau Chambert (we visit this Chateau on our wine tour) with a film crew.

Imbibe New York

My other favorite wine of the night comes from Cahors, 2005 Chateau Pineraie, which I favored for its earthy elements and complexity.  It begins with aromas of licorice root and dark plum cherry, above which hovers a fog of dark minerality.  Flavors of raisin transform mid-palate to something dry.  It smells like a cotton field, said Suzanne, to which I replied–It’s the steam-heat of the iron on cotton fabric.  And she said, Yes!  The acidity is a little low, but the dark minerality detected on the nose returns to the finish as slate, covered with a handful of dried rose petals.

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The Observer, Sunday 8 February 2009

When someone first told me about a website called www.blackisphere.fr I assumed it was something to do with satanic worship, or a tribute to the "none more black" album cover in Spinal Tap. Images came to mind of French peasants smeared in goats' entrails dancing naked around open fires. Alas, the reality is more prosaic. The website is the home page of the famous "vin noir" from Cahors in southwest France, complete with the proceedings of a symposium chaired by a Sorbonne sociology professor about the cultural significance of blackness. A joke a minute it is not.

Why the step into cyberspace? The answer is that Cahors, one of France's oldest and, historically at least, most prestigious wines is trying to make a comeback as "the original Malbec". "Cahors is back!" the appellation announced at The France Show in London recently. Back, black, or possibly both.

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The Independent (UK)

If the South of France has become known as the new New World of wine, the South West is its new Old World, and is a region on the brink of rediscovery, says Anthony Rose.

After being upstaged by Bordeaux and Languedoc-Roussillon a few visionary growers, joined by innovative outside investors, have brought about a revival, Rose adds.

He says that what marks this region out is its wealth of idiosyncratic flavours derived from native grape varieties such as Tannat, Malbec, Négrette and Fer Servadou (reds) and Petit Manseng, Gros Manseng, Courbu, Mauzac and Len de L'el (whites).

Rose talks of Cahors, the French home of the Malbec, known as Cot or Auxerrois and it's here, he says, that passionate growers like Pascal Verhaeghe of Château du Cèdre, have worked their socks off to produce superbly rich and concentrated red like the 2005 Château du Cèdre, Le Cèdre, (around £20, Lea & Sandeman).

More about Cahors wine from Anthony Rose Extract from Decanter Magazine

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Wines from the London International Wine Fair, 12-14 May 2009

Looking for a chunky, honest house wine for autumn? You could do far worse than Rigal's The original Malbec 2008 (£6 ex VAT, Enotria). A Vin de Pays du Lot, it's made from Malbec grown in two different vineyards around the Cahors area. The first vineyard, located on the region's clay limestone plateau, gives grapes with higher tannins than the fleshier, fruitier grapes grown on alluvial soils in the Lot Valley. Blended together, they create a balanced wine showing plenty of crunchy cherries and plums, tinged with a touch of spice.

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