Bonjour,
Unfortunately, we are still not mobile after the accident with our car to go to the market with our wines. We assume that our car can be repaired quickly, and we will keep you informed.
Of course, it is always possible to visit us in the wine cellar by appointment and our web shop is also open and we deliver free of charge to your home within a radius of 20 kilometers around Monpazier from 6 bottles.
And you can book our Wine Experience from 4-6 people, (7 Tapas with 7 different wines) more info see website.
From next week we will be back on the market in Monpazier with a smaller table and an adapted selection of wines. filming in the square moved to the parking lot next to the church for March 2 and 16 and there is no market on March 9.
From March 23, the market will be back on the familiar square, and we will be under the market hall again.
In our newsletter attention to the “black” Malbec grape and a new winegrower from Cahors. And our favorite winter dish from our native Netherlands Stamppot kale with sausage.
We wish everyone a nice Winter holidays and be careful on the skis.
Malbec, Auxerrois (Noir), Cot
Doesn’t this “black” grape come from Argentina? say many people outside France, Argentina also has the most planting 40,000 hectares against 7,000 in France, but it really has its roots in the southwest of France, the Cahors and Quercy region in the Lot department. Vines had already been planted here in Roman times and the Roman name for Cahors is Cadurques. Only in the Middle Ages did the name Vin Noir arise for the wines from this region, which were on the table during the marriage in 1305 of Alienor d’Aquitaine to the English King Henri II. And it was also one of the favorite wines from Tsar Peter the Great.
Whether it was already the Malbec grape is not 100% known, because the grape was first officially mentioned in 1761 under the name Noir de Pressac in the Libournais (Bordeaux)
The characteristics of this grape with several names Auxerrois Noir in Cahors en Quercy, Malbec in Bordeaux, Côt in the Loire region and Charente, is its dark purple almost black color, especially when it is still young, it’s very fruity nose and taste with black and red berries, black cherries, plums and tobacco, cedar wood and chocolate. With long aging in the cellar, complex aromas of humus and truffles are created.
The thick skin of the grape with many pigments gives a lot of color but also a lot of tannins, which is why it is important that the grapes are harvested healthy and optimally ripe. If this is not the case, you will understand how the name MAL-BEC = bad in the mouth came about.
The style of the wines from this grape varies from easy drinking on the fruit (macération carbonique) to robust, powerful, structured, and complex wines with great aging potential, often longer than many Cru Classé from Bordeaux.
Cahors wines are usually 100% Malbec, but Merlot, Cabernet and Tannat are also used in the assembly. A Cahors wine must be composed of at least 70% Malbec.
The Malbec grape is always slightly more powerful and has a bit more tannin than, for example, a comparable wine from the Merlot grape, and therefore for us an excellent wine for autumn and winter with hearty winter food. (See our recipe)
You can say one thing about the Malbec grape, or you love it or you hate it!
Nos producteurs préférés ; Combel-la-Serre, Domaine la Calmette, l’Ostal Levant, Simon Busser, Le Jour des Vents, Valérie Courrèges, Domaine Cosse Maisonneuve et aussi le nouveau Domaine (voir paragraphe suivant)
Un Nouveau Départ
Emmanuel Maussion who, after working intensively for 15 years as a computer expert in the banking sector in Paris, wanted to take a completely different approach and therefore followed a BTS Viticulture/Oenology in 2014 to do something similar with his passion for wines. After having gained a lot of experience at renowned wineries in southern Burgundy. He settled with his family in Douelle near the town of Cahors to make wine here in the most natural way possible. His point of view is that the wines are fruity, smoothand easy to drink, but with the necessary depth and expression of the terroir.
On the 5 hectares of vineyards spread over 3 communes, Douelle, Caillac and Mercuès, which boast several beautiful terroirs that vary from gravelly soils from the terraces of the river Lot to calcareous clay soils from just below the plateau. The planting is 80% Malbec and 20% Merlot, the vines are on average between 20 and 40 years old.
The Domain is in conversion to organic viticulture and the wines are made with as little intervention as possible in the vineyard and cellar that is located under an old house in the middle of the picturesque town of Douelle, without sulphite or, if necessary, with minimal amounts.
In our range we currently have the very fruity and powerful, but smooth Polisson made from 100% Merlot and without added sulphite and the modern and structured Cahors Nouveau Départ from 100% Malbec with.
We wish Emmanuel and his family every success in the coming years. And given the high quality of the current wines, that will succeed.
Recipe:
What couldn’t be better in winter with a good glass of Malbec, “Boerenkool” mashed potatoes with kale and smoked sausage!
ingredients for 4 persons:
1 to 1.5 kg of potatoes
500 to 750 grams of Kale
Salt & pepper
Nutmeg
80 grams Butter
500 grams Smoked sausage (beef or pork), or Montbeliard
100-200 grams of bacon in small cubes
Jus de veau or gravy
Peel and cut the potatoes into small cubes and place them just under water with some salt in a large, preferably cast-iron pan, place on top of the washed and very finely chopped kale. Put the lid on the pan and bring to the boil, when it boils put the smoked sausage on top of the kale and let it steam over low heat until it is fully cooked.
Remove the smoked sausage from the kale, pour the moisture from the kale and mash it all together with a masher with some butter and season with pepper and grated fresh nutmeg.