About this WINE
Malbec
Known as Auxerrois in Cahors, Cot in the Loire and Malbeck in Argentina, this grape has undergone a mini renaissance in the last decade, largely fuelled by its success in South America. It used to be a staple component of the Bordeaux Blend, but it never recovered fully from the 1956 frosts and its plantings there have fallen by 75% as growers have replaced it with more fashionable, and crucially, more durable grapes.
It is still grown successfully in South West France where its most famous wine is Cahors. This wine used to be black as coal and tough as leather but improvements in viticultural and vinification techniques have led to riper, softer, more approachable wines that are now amongst the best of the region.
In Argentina it is widely grown and produces deep coloured wines with generous black fruit characteristics, balanced acidity and smooth tannins. It is either bottled on its own or as part of a Bordeaux blend. In Chile it is the 3rd most widely planted grape after Pais and Cabernet Sauvignon and tends to produce firmer, more tannic wines than its Argentinian neighbours. In Chile it is often blended with Merlot and Petit Verdot.
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Description
Cahors has long been famous in the Englishman’s vinous canon, associated traditionally with robust even slightly rustic wines, powerful enough, at any rate, to stand up to rich local dishes such as cassoulet and sanglier. The trick with Cahors, only latterly discovered it seems, has been to tame through the vehicle of blending. In this fine art Clos La Coutale has few peers.
The blend of the 2011 is 70% Malbec (known locally as Auxerrois), the traditional grape of the region, blended with 15% Merlot which gives finesse and bouquet and 15% Tannat which gives it its ageing potential.The wine does not want for savoury spicy power, but its tannins are plush and poised and its fruit character is generous and engagingly sweet.
Simon Field MW - BBR Buyer
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