Critics reviews
The Wine Gang, October 2012
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
Clos de Coutale is a rare beast; a Cahors which combines a noble and tannic history with modern, fruity accessibility, achieved by blending the indigenous Auxerrois grape (better known as Malbec)with the more familiar Merlot. This wine succeeds because it maintains something of the classic Cahors rigour but adds an attractive almost velvety texture. Calvinistic austerity in a Cardinal’s robes in other words.
Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer, October 2011
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