Cahors, Gaillac and Marcillac

7 Marcillac AC 2008
Domaine Laurens

Grape:100% Fer Servadou (12.5% alc.)

Marcillac comes from terraced hillside vineyards with extraordinary deep red soil, rich in iron oxide. Medical studies have indicated that Marcillac is particularly good for the heart as it lowers cholesterol. It is a very supple, midweight wine, with raspberry, blackberry fruit and iron on the finish. An especially versatile food wine. For drinking now to 2011.

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8 Cahors AC 2005 Cuvée Juline
Domaine de la Berangeraie

Grape:90% Malbec, 10% Merlot (12.5% alc.)

The 2005 has a gorgeous deep raspberry colour, a mix of blueberry, cassis, liquorice and menthol hints on the nose and palate, medium-body and fine silky tannins on the finish. It is one of the top vintages over the last decade. For drinking now to 2012.

* Half bottles are available

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9 Cahors AC 2005 Cuvée Maurin
Domaine de la Berangeraie

Grape:100% Malbec (13% alc.)

Exceptional wine made from 100% pure malbec, this has a much deeper, almost black cherry colour. Given a longer cuvaison than the Cuvée Juline, it has more structure and a different aromatic profile – slightly tobaccoey, with fruit more redolent of figs/ prunes and a touch of menthol and spice on the finish. For drinking now to 2013.

* Magnums are available

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10 Cahors AC 2005 Les Quatre Chambrées
Domaine de la Berangeraie

Grape:100% Malbec (13% alc.)

This is Berangeraie’s top unoaked wine and comes from a due south-facing hillside where the soil is a deep limestone imbued with iron deposits. Yields are 15% lower than the Maurin at 28 hectos per hectare and the temperature of fermentation is never allowed to exceed a low 25° (above which point harsher more unstable elements are extracted). It has bigger, ripe fruit again than the Maurin, with notable menthol, liquorice, limestone and iron notes and tremendous depth. For drinking late 2010 to 2014.

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11 Cahors AC 2006 Nuits des Rossignols
Domaine de la Berangeraie

Grape:100% Malbec (13.5% alc.)

This comes from a due south facing hillside and Jurassic marls, that allow for a full ripening of the thick skinned malbec grape. Vinified in cuve, it was then aged for ten months in one year old barrels which help to bring it on a little quicker than the cuve aged Maurin. It is already textbook Cahors with rich blueberry fruit, strong notes of liquorice and a hint of spice. For drinking now to 2014.

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12 Cahors AC 2004 La Gorgée de Mathis Bacchus
Domaine de la Berangeraie

Grape:100% Malbec (13.5% alc.)

Berangeraie’s top cuvée, Mathis Bacchus comes from 35 year old vines planted in Jurassic limestones and marls on the hillsides of Floressas. Vinified in cuve, it was then transferred to new oak barrels for malolactic fermentation and bottled after fining but no filtration in April 2006. The oak is very well integrated, and the wine shows intriguing malbec character of mocha, eucalyptus, bay leaves and cloves. For drinking now to 2019+.

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13 Gaillac Sec AC 2006 Renaissance
Domaine Rotier

Grape:55% Loin de l’oeil, 45% Sauvignon (12.5% alc.)

This wine has a similar weight of fruit and taste of an oak-aged Jurançon Sec – peachy with a grapefruity twist. For drinking now to 2011.

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14 Gaillac Doux AC 2007 Renaissance
Domaine Rotier

Grape:100% Loin de l’oeil (14% alc.)

This wine is made from tiny yields of grapes concentrated by pourriture noble. It is a rich complex wine with pears and apples coming through very clearly on both the nose and palate. This wine would be the perfect match for foie gras, or go equally well with chocolate based desserts or blue cheese. For drinking now to 2012. Sweet, price per 50cl.

* Half bottles are available

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Cahors, Gaillac and Marcillac

Berangeraie is precisely the type of domaine that inspired me to set up Vine Trail 19 years ago. Run by the exceptionally hard working Berenger family, the domaine is in the hands of Maurin, his wife Marlène (both oenologists), sister Juline and her husband Henri. Parents Sylvie and André originally had the Herculean task of clearing the hillsides of trees and shrubs to plant 20 hectares of vine in 1970 and still help out with work in the vines and the office.

Dynamic doesn't quite go far enough to describe the Berenger's work. In the vineyards they plough, leaf-thin and debud to produce low yields. They are also the only domaine in Cahors where all the vines are hand-harvested. Hand-harvesting is four times more expensive than machine harvesting, but it prolongs the life of the vine, and is the only way to ensure the quality of every grape that goes into the fermentation vat.
In 2002 they set out to build two houses for their young families from the local rough-hewn limestone. As if this work was not enough, Maurin was then voted president of the grower's syndicat for three years where, determined to show all the wines of Cahors in a better light, he persuaded the growers to reduce their maximum yield from 60 to 50 hectos per hectare.

Now with houses finished and three years stint as president behind him, Maurin and the Berenger family are applying all their efforts to ?nessing and improving their wines a touch further. How do they do this when they are hardly in need of oenological advice? According to Maurin, by regular tastings, when five of the top Cahors winemakers meet and taste each other?s wines (Pascal Verhaeghe from Château du Cèdre is one of the five).
If you enjoy wild, mountainous country, spectacular scenery, rugged red sandstone buildings and your wines with a real irony ping on the finish, then head for Marcillac, an hour and a half east of Cahors. Marcillac is the type of wine you could drink every day, and indeed, given its claimed cholesterol-lowering qualities, should drink every day.

Gaillac is a geographic appellation that encompasses wines made from very different grape varieties, soils, yields and winemaking techniques, whose only common link is a production area within a 20km radius of the town of Gaillac. Finding a quality winemaker is paramount here. We now stock the top range of wines from Domaine Rotier, who have really found their feet over the last couple of years, using Gaillac's best terroirs and judicious oak ageing to produce a refreshingly different range of wines.