We met at a friend’s place way back at the start of 2020. She had a sparkling personality, but I didn’t get her name. Thankfully, I did get a picture and the social media hive mind helped me to figure it out. Still, when the world shut down a few weeks later, I figured it was unlikely we wouldn't see each other again anytime soon. 

I didn’t forget her though. She was a little sassy and stuck with me. But I’m sure you can imagine my surprise when she showed up at my place out of the blue much later. I was absolutely delighted to receive her . . .  as part of a set of sample bottles. I celebrated our reunion by making her some lobster risotto – to which I added a pinch of cayenne to match her sass.

Sometimes failing to get the name of a wine you really enjoyed can feel like a case of missed connections. I was particularly excited to receive this bottle because my mystery lady/bottle was a bit of an oddball. It’s an unusual style from an unexpected region of France. The Château Tour des Gendres Pétillant-Naturel is a blend of Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc from Bergerac, which you might know as the home of Cyrano, but isn’t as well known for its wines. Perhaps her eccentricities are a part of what makes this lady/bottle so beguiling. 

Château Tour des Gendres Pétillant-Naturel 

Château Tour des Gendres is a family affair. Vincenzo de Conti arrived from Italy and settled down in Bergerac with his wife and kids in 1925. The family farmed the land, but it wasn’t until the 1980s that they began making wine. Luc (Vincenzo’s grandson) settled on the property with his wife Martine. He inherited some old vines on the property and then added more plots later on. His cousin Francis joined them later on and brought 20 more hectares of vines in the Saint Julien d’Eymet and Grand Caillou areas, and took charge of the vines, which are now farmed organically.

The property, however, has a much older history. In the 12th century, the vineyards belonged to Bridoire Castle, owned by Marquis Foucault. His son-in-law (or gendre in French), Mr. Peyronny, was the owner of the ancient Gallo-Roman villa that is now  ‘Tour des Gendres.’  Most of the vineyards that originally belonged to the Castle were wiped out by phylloxera,  so they now only cover about a tenth of the original area.

The Château Tour des Gendres Pétillant-Naturel 2019 (average price $25) was very refreshing with notes of gold and green apples, lemons, white flowers, and saline minerality on the finish. It was bright and lively but also had a little texture as well, which is what made me think it would work well with the creaminess of a risotto incorporating seafood. It was indeed a delicious match as the bubbles and minerality of the wine refreshed the palate, while the wine texture matched that of the food nicely, as desired. 

Sadly, I couldn’t find much about this specific wine on their website, but luckily the bottle came with a card full of information that I will share with you here. 

Bergerac

Bergerac is in South West France, along the Dordogne River. It’s just to the east of Bordeaux, which is probably the main reason that the region isn’t really thought of in terms of wine, despite having produced it since Roman times. Unfortunately, it’s living in the shadow of a giant of a wine region that historically used its power as a port to block wines from other areas from getting out without being heavily taxed. The area also produces many different styles of wines – red, white, sweet, and as we see, sparkling. The grapes and styles are generally also similar to what you’d find in Bordeaux. You’ll find Merlot, Cab, Cab Franc, Malbec, Sauv Blanc and Semillon, just as you would in Bordeaux, and the sweet wines of Monbazillac are made in the same way as Sauternes, with grapes affected by botrytis.

Because Pét-Nats don’t fall within the specifications of the region, this particular wine is classified as a Vin de France (VdF). 

Map borrowed from Wine Folly.

Black Pool Matt’s Wine Club 

This wine came to me as a sample from Black Pool Matt’s Wine Club, a wine club by Matthew Gaughan of Matthew's World of Wine and Drink. It’s set up so that you can pick from several themes to suit your interest. This wine was included in the  “(You Make Me Feel Like)” club which focuses on producers who are practicing or certified organic, biodynamic, and/or use low-intervention, natural winemaking techniques. You can also buy directly from the website, although selections may vary depending on availability.

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For more related to South West France, check out these posts:

• Crocus l'Atelier Malbec de Cahors with Château de Mercuès Chicken in Saffron Broth with Vegetables
  
• An Invitation to Explore the Terroir of Cahors with the French
  
• On Location Pairings From Cahors and a #Winophiles Preview
  
• Bringing Home Cahors with Clos d'Audhuy
  

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The rest of the French Wineophiles Blogging Group (#Winophiles) are also exploring the wine of South West France this month. Be sure to check out their posts:

• Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Garlic and Herb-Rubbed Standing Pork Rib Roast + Château Laulerie Bergerac Rosé 2020
• Robin at Crushed Grape Chronicles: Fish, cheese, and red wine. Exploring the Basque region of Irouléguy
• Jeff at Food Wine Click!: Deconstructed Tartine & Domaine de L’Astré Pèlroge
• Deanna at Wineivore: Organic Negrette & Manseng Wines from SW France Paired with Southwest Sliders
• Jane at Always Ravenous: Affordable Wines from Southwest France: Tasting & Pairings
• Cindy at Grape Experiences: A Taste of Southwest France: Nature Secrète Saint Mont 2018 and Sauteed Duck Breasts with Mushrooms
• Gwendolyn at Wine Predator: Mauzac? SW France’s Domaine du Moulin Features This Unusual Grape in Methode Ancestrale Sparkler
• Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm: Visiting the Wines of Southwest France outside of Bordeaux
• Lynn at Savor the Harvest: Gascony Surprise: Meet Domaine de Joÿ in Southwest France
• Linda at My Full Wine Glass: Two Tannat-based wines from Southwest France

Clos d’Audhuy was one of my favorite stops on my trip to Cahors in southwestern France last fall. 

Map courtesy of Wine.com

My visit to this winery was initially based on a completely impartial and unbiased selection on my part. The majority of winery visits made on this press trip were based on preferences emerging from a big blind tasting of the region’s wines. The visit further solidified it as one of my favorites. 




Winemaker and owner Benoit Aymard was so personable on my visit that I really couldn’t help but like his wines all the more for it. He’s fairly young, and while his father and grandfather were growers, his winery is pretty new. He was in his third year when we visited, and his winery facilities had just recently been built (actually, sections were still in progress).



On our visit, he came across as very down to earth. He has 12 hectares of land and he intends to stay small. He’s a dad with young kids and described to us that he wants his winery to remain at a size where he could really maintain his strict quality standards, while still leaving him time to spend with his family. Full respect.



His land is in the town of Lacapelle-Cabanac and had belonged to his family. In 2014, he had the opportunity to take over a piece and he jumped on it. When he took over the vineyards, he decided to rip up a lot of the vines and replaced them with what he considers to be a better clone of Malbec, planted at high densities. In addition to Malbec, he has also planted some Sauvignon Blanc, although of course, this falls outside the AOC.

The average age of his vines is about 30 years. His vineyards are split between the limestone Causse and the 4th terrace with alluvial and gravel soils – the soils in his vineyards date back up to 500,000 years.  (Read here to understand what I’m talking about regarding the Causse and the terraces. In that post I focused on 3 terraces, but the 4th terrace would be even closer to the top of the plateau.)

He farms organically, although certification is still in progress. Grapes are harvested in small trays, and are picked only when they’ve reached optimal ripeness. After the grapes are selected, they’re carefully destemmed and crushed, and are handled gently during vinification. All lots are vinified separately. He uses very little sulfur, and so works super clean to ensure the pure flavor of the fruit. I can attest that the place was spotless!

Grapes from each of his lots go each into a separate tank.

For the Clos d’Audhuy Cahors 2015, the vinification occurs in small, temperature controlled stainless steel tanks. Afterwards, wines are matured in large (400 L) barrels for 12 months, to maintain the fruity, freshness of the wines. (See the tech sheet here for more details.)

For me, the Clos d’Audhuy wines were demonstrative of a style of wine quite different from the very rustic style the region is best known for (several wines in this post fit that style). Earlier on in his career, Benoit worked with Paul Hobbs in various places. Paul Hobbs is a partner for the Crocus wines I’ve shared a couple of times before (here and here), which are representative of a more polished international style. Clos d’Audhuy's wines are in a different camp from those as well. In addition to being terroir drive, he prefers a fresher style that shows off the fruit even more.

This wine was a sample I had leftover from a small tasting seminar that I put together and led earlier this year. It was provided by O'Donnell Lane and Vin de Cahors. Please note that all opinions are my own.

I’ve now had the chance to try the Clos d’Audhuy Cahors 2015 (average price $22) several times and I’ve always been struck by the pretty fruit quality. On the most recent tasting,  Greg and I picked up notes of fresh blackberries, violets, light spice, and hints of green herbs. Greg called it a “green chocolate forest.” Plums joined in on the palate. The fruit was rich and mostly fresh, with some lightly sauced notes. There were spice notes of black licorice and pepper, as well as stony earth, and some light herby green notes. It's a dense wine, definitely full-bodied, and it's high in tannins, but with acidity that cuts through. While there's a brighter quality to the fruit in this wine than in many others from Cahors, I still would recommend decanting it. It is Malbec, and Malbec tends to be big. I found the wine to be a little tight at the beginning during this last tasting, and the fruit came more alive with air. I'm also very interested to see where this wine goes with a little age, so I'm going to have to find myself another bottle.

I think this wine really delivers a lot of bang for the buck at this price point. It's an Overachiever in my book.

For an even more easy-drinking take on Cahors, try Clos d'Audhuys Les Polissons (Avergae price $16). I tried the 2017 at the winery and it showed beautifully pure black and blue fruits–boysenberry, blueberry, blackberry. There were also light notes of lilacs and hints of earthiness. There was a pretty current of acidity bolstering the fruit, and soft, dusty tannins. This is a wine that is meant to be drunk young to experience the fresh, vibrant fruit..

There's a little  word play going on behind the name "Polisson." It comes from a combination of his kid's name – Paul and Lisson. The word also means "tricky," while also connoting cuteness. The drawing on the label is a sketch of them.

I bought this saffron gelée at Clos de Chêne, one of the other lovely estates I visited.

I brought home a trove of culinary goodies from Cahors (see this post to glimpse some of the amazing food in the region) and I still had some waiting in the kitchen cabinet, including a tin of foie gras terrine and a jar of saffron gelée. Now seemed like the time to bust into them. I decided to create a cheese spread around these treats, and see how the wine fared with different cheeses. The foie gras terrine paired pretty easily, while the saffron gelée paired best when added lightly to the cheese.




Here were our findings:

 

Brie

This was just a basic one I had from Trader Joes. Since it was around,  we decided we might as well try it. It was smooth, creamy, and mild; you know, you’re basic brie.

Sadly, this pairing did not work. The wine became a little bitter with this cheese.

Brebis Pyrenes Hervé Mons

I was aiming at finding cheeses from the area, but couldn’t find any from the immediate vicinty, but I found a couple from elsewhere in l’Occitanie. Pyreness Berbis is from the Basque regions near the Pyrenees mountains for over 1,000 years.

This is a sheep’s milk cheese. It was nutty, tangy, had a nice hint of saltiness, and light notes of hay, as well as fresher grasses.

The wine wasn’t bad with this one, bringing out the saltiness in a nice way.
 

Roquefort Papillon Révélation

Roquefort is also from l’Occitanie. I found this charming story on Wikipedia:

Legend has it that the cheese was discovered when a youth, eating his lunch of bread and ewes' milk cheese, saw a beautiful girl in the distance. Abandoning his meal in a nearby cave, he ran to meet her. When he returned a few months later, the mold (Penicillium roqueforti) had transformed his plain cheese into Roquefort.

This blue cheese is also from sheep’s milk. It’s aged for 60 days or more. The cheese was salty, with a floral funk like fading flowers. It had a pleasant sharpness which was smoothed out by the buttery quality of the texture.

This was hands-down our favorite pairing. The sharpness of the cheese rounded out alongside the wine, and in turn, more fruit came out in the wine.

• Jane from Always Ravenous explores the "Flavors of Fall Paired with Cahors Malbec"
• Cathie of Side Hustle Wino looks at "Cahors  - The Birthplace of Malbec"
• Jill from L’Occasion shares "Cahors, a French Classic"
• Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla will be posting "Château du Cèdre Extra Libre 2018 Malbec + Cider-Braised Chicken Thighs"  
• Wendy Klik of A Day in the Life on the Farm samples "A Trio of Cahors Wine and the Pairings Served"  
• Jeff of FoodWineClick! gives us "The Malbec You Never Knew: Cahors"
• Linda of My Full Wine Glass shares "Newbies to Old-World Malbec Discover Cahors"
• Cindy of Grape Experiences explores "The Old-World Style of Malbec from Cahors"
• Deanna of Asian Test Kitchen give us "French Malbecs Meet Chinese Duck 4 Ways"
• Gwen from Wine Predator shares “From Cahors: Biodynamic Chateau du Cedre Malbec with French Charcuterie”
• Pinny of Chinese Food & Wine Pairings matches “Cahors Malbecs and American Wagyu Beef Asian BBQ ”
• Cynthia and Pierre of Traveling Wine Profs give us "Cahors, Hainan Chicken Rice, and the Stories Wine Books Tell"
• Susannah of Avvinare will be “Shedding Light on Old World Malbec from Cahors”
• Payal of Keep the Peas discusses “Cahors: What Put Malbec on the Map”
• Rupal of Syrah Queen will posting “Cahors - Tasting “Black Wines” With The Original Malbec”
• David of Cooking Chat pairs “Mushroom Truffle Risotto with Cahors Malbec”
• And I’m "Bringing Home Cahors with Clos D’Audhuy" here on Somm's Table.

At a lunch at Le Caillau this wine from Château Haut-Monplaisir was lovely with this Duck Liver Parfait with marmalade from garden damson plums and toast. The picture at the top is of their charming entrance.

And at the same lunch, this Secrets de La Gineste was beautiful with this Hare in Chocolate Sauce with butternut squash.

Around this time last year, I was invited on a press trip to visit Cahors in southwestern France. I’ve been interested in this region for a while, and I've shared pairings for wines from the region here on Somm’s Table a couple of times before. As you can probably imagine, I was absolutely thrilled at the chance to get to know it in person.
The region is completely, freak’n enchanting! Admittedly, it’s a bit tricky to get here. It’s locked in an awkward spot, tucked into a corner almost equidistant between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, but without easy access to either. Historically, this has been a problem for the region, since it was pretty much blocked from the major ports. Today, it’s still a bit remote. It’s about two hours from Bordeaux or about an hour and a half from Toulouse by car.  However, travelers seeking the less trodden path will be well rewarded by beautiful scenery, fascinating history, amazing food, and of course, great wine.

Cahors' Ponte Valentré dates back to 1308 and took 70 years to build.

 

The French #Winophiles

Given how interesting I found the region, I’m so excited to be hosting the French #Winophiles event exploring the region next month. If you follow this blog regularly, you might’ve noticed that I participate in several wine blogger groups. Each month, we pick a topic (in this case, related to French wines), write posts on that topic, and then gather on Twitter to discuss. This is my first time hosting an event!

Join us on Saturday, October 19th at 8:00 am ET/ 11:00 am PT on Twitter and follow the hashtag #Winophiles. You’ll find us chatting about wines and food of this region, as well as travels through the region for those lucky enough to have been here.

Here's how to join us:

If you are a wine writer or blogger, this is your invitation to join in!

• Contact me to tell me you’re in: Include blog url, Twitter handle,  and any other social media details. We just like to get a sense of who’s participating.

• Send your post title to me by Tuesday, October 15th to be included in the preview post. I’ll be preparing a preview post shortly after getting the titles, linking to your blogs. Your title should include “#Winophiles.”

• Publish your post between 12:01 a.m-8:00 a.m. ET on Saturday, October 18th. You can always schedule your post in advance if you will be tied up that morning.

• Include links to the other #Winophiles participants in your post, and a description of what the event is about. I’ll share the HTML code that you can easily drop in your initial post — which will link to people’s general blog url. I’ll update the code to include permanent links to everyone’s #Winophiles posts once they’re up.

• Time to get social! After the posts go live, please visit your fellow bloggers posts’ to comment and share. We have a Facebook group for participating bloggers to connect and share, too. If you need an invitation please let me know.

• Sponsored posts are OK if clearly disclosed. Please be sure to disclose if your post is sponsored or if you are describing wine or other products for which you have received a free sample.

A Cahors Cheat Sheet

Just as this region is a bit remote, I realize that the wines can sometimes be a little bit hard to find. However, I think they’re well worth looking for as they tend to deliver great value for the money. I invite you to check out my previous post here for more background on the region’s history, but here is a cheat sheet:

• Malbec is the star grape of the region. Wines must at least 70% Malbec, but some Merlot and Tannat are also allowed.

• Malbec’s known aliases: Côt, Auxerrois

• This is Malbec’s birthplace. (Nope, it’s not from Argentina). In the 16th century, University Professor François Roaldès referenced Auxerrois in a work on winegrowing. In this work he stated that it had been present in the area for at least 600 years.

• The term Malbec was first used in the 18th century by the owner of an estate in the Médoc who grew a lot of it. His name was Mr. Malbeck. The word doesn’t come from “bad mouth” as is commonly thought.

• Formerly a part of South West France, as of 2016 Cahors is a part of the newly formed region of Occitanie.

• 80% of bottles are coming from independent winemakers. 20% from local the co-op.

• The region covers 21,700 hectares, only 4,500 of which are planted.

• Organic farming currently covers about 17% of the region. (The average in France is less than 10%.)

• The region is known for big, bold, rustic wines  . . .  but of course it’s more complicated than that. 

This house belonged to François Roaldès, the professor who referenced Malbec in the 16th century.

There are your Cliff’s Notes, but now let’s really get really geeky!

Digging Deep into the Terroir

The focus of this particular trip was on getting to know the terroir, and as soon as you see it you know it is special. The region is located in the foothills of the Massif Central and follows the Lot River. The Lot eventually flows into the Garonne River, which runs by Bordeaux on the Atlantic coast.




Cahors’ piece of the Lot is absolutely crazy. It winds back and forth like a madly wriggling snake for 60 km from East to West. They refer to each bend and turn as a “meander,” and it certainly meanders a lot. Combine that with the rolling slopes, given that it’s foothill country, and you have countless variations of terroir all contributing to the complexity of the wines.

Vineyards in the foreground, but in the background you can also see a meander and the way the land slopes up to the Causse.

There is also an upside to their awkward, ‘Baby's stuck in a corner’ positioning. They still feel some effects from the oceans, but they get waaaaaay less rainfall than Bordeaux, which means they don’t have the same problems with fungal diseases that occur in that region. Vine roots are forced to tap really deep down to access water, which tends to add more layers of complexity.

The region has been investing in the study of its terroirs since the 90’s, as part of it’s push to increase quality. (They saw the success that Malbec was having in Argentina, and they decided to learn from it.) To simplify explaining this incredibly intricate terroir, they describe them in term of two distinct divisions: terraces and Causse terroirs.


On the trip, we were able to walk through the vineyards of Château Eugenie to actually see the variations and changes in the soils as you move up the terraces towards the Causse, so I’ll drop in pictures as I explain.

The terraces are areas carved out by the Lot river out of the plateau (we’ll get to that in a second). There are more alluvial deposits in these soils, coming from the river as it chiseled away at the slopes. The wines  from these areas are considered to be generally more approachable earlier on.

The terraces are further subdivided into sections. For simplicity, they focus on three distinct terraces, but there are actually quite a few more. Each terrace is defined by particular soil types, which tend to give different characteristics to the wines:

• 1st Terrace -  These are the areas right next to the river, composed of young and fertile alluvial soils, whose silty sands and loam. Wines from this section tend to be light, airy, and fruity. A lot of winemakers see this section as their area for experimentation and play, so this is where you’re likely to find other, non-AOC grapes planted. (i.e. grapes other than Malbec, Merlot, Tannat.) 
  

• 2nd terrace - Moving away from the river, up 5 meters higher in elevation. You’ll start to see more limestone, pebbles, and more presence of clay. Altogether, the wines tend to have more body and depth as compared to the first terrace.   
  
  

• 3rd Terrace - You start to see even more pebbles and stones. This area splits into 2 main types of soils. Gravelly limestone (finesse) and a limestone with more clay mixed in (fruitiness and strength.) 

As you move past the terraces and keep climbing in elevation, you reach the Causse, a limestone plateau, at an altitude of 250 to 350 meters.

• This plateau was formed by a sea which existed 150 million years ago.

• It’s much less fertile than the terraces, and this terroir is also less influenced by the river.

• There is a great diversity of soils here – it’s sometimes mixed with marl, sometimes strewn with limestone or red pebbles, sometimes purple soils, and there are pockets that are rich in iron. Some soils are particularly rich in yellow or red clays that retain water and nutrients and therefore provide the vine with constant water and mineral intake.

• The Causse areas see more diurnal shifts (greater temperature fluctuations between day and night), and as a result, the grapes ripen later.

• Wines from these terroirs tend to be less fleshy, but have greater delicacy. Overall, the wines are also more tannic and longer-lived.

Ok, this one isn't actually in their vineyards. It's elsewhere on the Causse, but you can see large amounts of limestone creeping out.

Admittedly, this pic is mostly here because the horses are really cute, but you can also see the vineyard slopes in the background climbing up to the Causse.

A stone hut in the vineyards.

As I mentioned in the cheat sheet, the region is known for big, bold, rustic wines, and yes, that’s fairly true. During this trip, my teeth were pretty much constantly dyed purple. (Y’all, we tried A LOT of Malbec.) However, as you can probably start to guess from all the variations in terroir, there’s also a lot of variety in the wines. 

We spent one morning blind tasting dozens of bottles of Cahors , so I really mean LOTS of Cahors!

  Then you have to add in winemaker influences. Some winemakers might focus on trying to express a specific terroir, while some might blend them together to get the best parts of each. Some winemakers are dedicated to the classic, rustic style; some are creating more polished, international styles; then there is also a new wave creating wines that strive for purity of fruit, but with less oak influence, just as we see happening elsewhere. Some wineries dabble in different styles. On top of all of that, there are quite a few winemakers experimenting with other varieties, particularly whites wines, but these of course, fall outside the AOC.

Altogether, there is way more going on here than meets the eye!

Before I go, I will leave you with a pairing for a wine from Château Eugenie, since we’ve just taken a look at their vineyards.

I had a chance to try their Reserve de Tours 2001 during a dinner on this trip at Les Hameau des Saveurs.




This is a pretty classic style, and with quite a bit of age on it at that. It had notes of licorice and leather on the nose, with a little plum and cedar. There were lots of tertiary notes on the palate, but still a decent amount of fruit given the age, and a smattering of herbs. The tannins were definitely still present, but were dusty and had smoothed out with age.


We enjoyed it with a delicious smoked duck breast.



If you ever happen to be in the area, Vin de Cahors has a tasting lounge downtown that can be very helpful as a starting point.

Thanks so much to O’Donnell Lane for inviting me on this press trip. Jill Barth worked with Vinconnexion to provide samples for some of the French #Winophiles, so thanks to them as well.

Come join in our discussion on October 18th!