Malbec — Paroles de vignerons - Vinparleur

Château du Cèdre #Cahors - best wine in the world!

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

Chinas most important wine paper, the Revue du Vin de France, awarded the Cuvée Le Cèdre 2006 Cahors from Pascal and Jean-Marc Verhaeghe as „best wine in the world".

„ Already in the January issue of the Chinese Revue du Vin de France, the most important wine paper of the country, the cuvee Le Cèdre 2006 has been elected “best Malbec wine distributed in China”, Pascal Verhaeghe gladly explains . “We are ahead of the Argentineans, and we are very proud of that.”

But as happiness rarely comes alone! The same wine has been elected “best wine in the world” amongst hundreds of white and red wines after another tasting organized by the same newspaper.

“ A complex and very harmonious wine, with great length and extraordinary ageing potential.”
2011 vintage from Château du Cèdre #Cahors now available

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

The 2011 vintage was very contrasted and untypical, similar to 1990, with a very sunny spring, almost blistering, and a rainy summer, which slowed down the impressive headstart in the vine’s ripeness. Some nice weather in September permitted to harvest healthy and balanced grapes in early October. After careful vinification and two years of ripening in oak casks, concrete tanks and bottles, we are proud to present the wines of the 2011 vintage.

Château du Cèdre Cahors 2011
Rich and spicy, with charming generosity. While sour cherry, laurel and black olives predominate the nose, the wine tastes medium-bodied and round on the palate, with smooth tannins and crispy acidity.

Le Cèdre Cahors 2011
Both powerful and elegant, with hints of smoke, tobacco and sweet spices, like cinnamon and star anise, and lots of ripe, black fruit. Great tannin structure, dense and delicious, wrapped into mellowness and carried by straight, mineral acidity. Impressively balanced, velvety and persistent…

“Straight and tasteful, a great homage to the definition of wine! Tight and savoury, you can’t but admire its slender fullness, fine structure and elegance. Exceptional wine.”
La Revue du vin de France, June 2012

GC Cahors 2011
Astonishing like always, the GC assembles a great diversity of fragrances with ease: minerality and white pepper, black fruits and camphor, roast aromas and violet. Powerful but not intrusive, the nose already offers high tasting pleasure, promising an interesting development for the years to come. On the palate it’s majestic, generous and tasty, with savoury and spicy tannins and a hint of “saltiness”, conferring a surprising airiness to the wine. A wine to follow for many years…
Château du Cèdre - 2010 vintage is ready to be poored!

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel, Château du Cèdre, Wine Press...

Cahors had a historically small harvest in 2010, mainly due to shatter or coulure (during difficult climatic conditions at the time of budburst, causing buds to fall to the ground). The high quality of the grapes allowed carrying out skin macerations for several weeks, slowly extracting tannins and aromas. According to their character and needs, the wines were aged either in concrete tanks, 500 litre casks or bigger wooden vats for two years. Today they fully express the high quality potential of the vintage. The wines finish their ripening in bottles, before being available in April.
In order to present the vintage to you in a pre-première, you will find here the comments of Anthony Rose, he published on his wine blog in December (Read the complete article „Cahors black magic“ at Anthonyrosewine.com).

Château du Cèdre 2010
Dense colour, fine aromatic quality, lovely black fruits concentration with subtle oak influence and very juicy fresh succulent red and black fruit and mulberry quality with a fine blade of damsony freshness on the finish and really nicely judged fine-grained tannins that help keep the wine in good proportion. Not a blockbuster but a very drinkable and moreish style. 92

2010 Château du Cèdre Le Cèdre
Fine nose deep colour, lovely freshness and purity of mulberryish aromas, delicious mulberry and cherry fruit vinosity on the palate, showing richness an concentration, subtle oak and firm spine of acidity bringing a real verve and freshness to the wine which is supple textured and finishes with a refreshing, mineral twist. Lovely overall balance of fruit, structure and minerality. 94

2010 Château du Cèdre GC
Good dense colour, aromatic, lovely black cherry fruit richness and concentration , lovely spicy black fruits richness, very juicy, fine subtle oak, very good intensity of fruit with lovely supple textured tannins and juicy freshness supported by great structure a wine that despite its power and richness melts in the mouth. Lovely fruit quality. 94+
Tasting of Château du Cèdre 2009 - #Malbec from #Cahors

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

As usual, this wine shows up in dark, purple clothes.

A little restrained in the nose, but multifaceted: Smoky smell, dark and dry fruits, a hint of mint, a little oak, cinnamon, as well as the alluring aromas of freshly baked pastry. This wine needs a little time to open up, use a decanter if you’re impatient to taste it.

Straight on the palate, with lively acidity, medium-bodied and with tight, young but fine tannins that last until the end. The final is rather long, dominated by freshness, crispy tannins and sour cherries.

You may appreciate this wine already now, for example on roast pork and roast beef, or keep it for another 8 years.

Tasted in November 2012
A new statement of the most vintage-like wine from Cahors

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

Le Cèdre Vintage 2011, the second vintage of our fortified Malbec wine is bottled.

It’s an excellent wine to celebrate the winter season. It will highlight all foie gras recipes, blue cheese, as well as deserts based on chocolate, red fruits and cinnamon.

Its powerful bouquet offers cocoa, raspberry and truffle, build on luscious and crispy taste, followed by an endless final.

Elaine Lemm, a british food and drink writer in the UK, considers that port (and port-like wine) “...is not however a wine for fast drinking. It demands a leisurely pace, contemplative sips and the company of good friends.”
Château du Cèdre - Tasting of the 2011 vintage

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

Aged separately according to origin and ripeness, the wines of our cuvee Château du Cèdre in being divided by tasting in two groups: The first one is characterized by powerful, fruity and flowery flavours, underlined by straight and clear acidity, whereas the second one shows more spices, body and fine tannins. An interesting basis for the final blending.

Pascal Verhaeghe déguste le millésime 2011 du Château du Cèdre Cahors

Our cuvee Le Cèdre ripens in oak tanks of 5700 litres as well as in barrels of 500 litres (80% new oak barrels, 20% one year old barrels). Violet, red and black current, but also roasted Hazelnuts, smoke and green pepper, the wines easily absorb the wood. With their great balance and their sophisticated tannin structure, they are looking forward to further ripening.

The GC wines of our “Grand Cru” are rather retentive at the moment. Comfortably stored in the same 500 litre barrels they have fermented in, they are dark and silent. Just as if they were our wisest wines. Many spices, some flowers and dense, velvety tannins impel to chew the wine before drinking. A satisfying impression at this early stage of ageing.
#Cahors Malbec: Cook like a Chef - video by cahorsmalbec2012

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel, Wine Press...

Enjoy yummy food, truffle and Cahors Malbec wines with chef Alexis Pelissou.
Wine with Dinner: ’Black wine’ malbec takes on a heady stew

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

“I lined up 19 malbec wines and started to think of a dish that would bring out their best and opted for that North African favourite: tagine.”

“[...]But then came the Château du Cèdre 2008, Cahors, France ($22.35, SAQ #972463), my old favourite that just made everything taste so sophisticated. As much as I enjoyed the others, this wine brought the tagine to another level. With each sip, I remembered what I loved about it so much: its inky colour, its aromas of blackberries, spices and smoke. I relished its velvetiness as it raced down my throat, followed by lingering flavours of vanilla and cinnamon. It’s as though the Cèdre was destined for the dish.”