Malbec Update: 1998 French Cahors in its prime
Malbec Update;
1998 French Cahors in its prime
As I mentioned in my June column about the several Malbec wines from Argentina winning gold medals, the French region of Cahors has been making excellent deeply colored Malbec wines for centuries. We got together with my family recently for lunch and, of course, Alice and I brought the wine. We had a nice selection of white and red wines of recent vintages, but, I wanted to have something with a little age on it with the entrée which was Salmon en Croute served with Fried Rice along side. A mature red goes nicely with salmon but, I didn’t want to overpower it. Granted, Malbec is a shade darker than most Merlot, Cabernet Franc or Cabernet Sauvignon, but, it is also generally less tannic. I spotted several bottles of 1998 Clos La Coutale Cahors in my cellar and thought it would be fun to bring a bottle for a couple of reasons. First, I thought that with fairly tame tannins and mature flavors it would pair well with the salmon, but also, Alice, George (my brother in law) and I had shared a bottle of the 1982 Clos La Coutale on a trip to Brussels back in 1994. It’s always fun to reconnect an event with a wine enjoyed previously. Also, at 19 years of age, I figured it was time to see if it was fully mature. Prior to dinner, we had a 2010 right bank Bordeaux*, a 2012 Sonoma Merlot** and a 2017 Michigan Nouveau***. So, we were ready for some serious wine. First, we enjoyed a 2009 Domaine Eden Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay. It couldn’t have been better. It was just at the point where creamy lemon zest fruit starts to change to caramel and toasted crème brulee. We need to make a point of drinking any remaining bottles in 2018 while they are fully mature but not starting to go down-hill. I do like older Chardonnays and have enjoyed a few French Chardonnays over 50 years old, but, in general, most top quality California Chardonnays are best at about age 7 or 8 and very few are still getting better after 10. Then we poured the Cahors. The French folks from this region just up river from Bordeaux pronounce the name of their homeland with slightly more than one syllable somewhat like the folks in the Rocky Mountain state pronounce their favorite beer. I decanted it at home before we left so there was a little head space allowing it to breathe and open up nicely in the two plus hours before we sat down for the main course. Luckily, like the Chardonnay, it couldn’t have been better. Though the tannin was quite silky, there was just enough grip left in this mature wine to cleanse the palate with each bite of the savory salmon and very aromatic mustard cream sauce. I believe this tasting shows that when Malbec vines are grown where they like to produce ripe fruit, Malbec is as age worthy as Merlot, Cabernet Franc or Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine from Cahors really reminds me of Bordeaux with maybe the small difference of a tad less tannin and a tad less red berry fruit. Otherwise, cedar, tobacco, black fruit, cassis and hints of dust and compost are consistent with typical Bordeaux nuances. I’m not certain that it would be a good idea to keep Malbec from Argentina that long before tasting. The best rule of thumb for any wine with which you have no track record is to open a bottle when you think it might be just a bit on the young side and then one per year until it is just right and then try to drink whatever you have left in a year or two.
Enjoy in Good Health, Brian Cain, the Michigan Vintner
*2010 Chateau Hyot, Castillon Cotes de Bordeaux (mostly Merlot with Cab Franc and Cab Sauv) Fine deep red color and rich texture with lightly smoky hints of oak along with lots of black fruits from cassis to black berries glides across the palate finishing with hints of cedar and a light kiss of fresh red fruit acidity.
**2012 Matanzas Creek Winery Sonoma County Merlot An extremely dark purple color paired with a huge plump dollop of super ripe black fruit offers plenty of muscle and fruit extract to match the somewhat chocolate-like nuance and oaky subtlety. If you have some of this wine in your cellar, it will probably age nicely for a few more years, but, it is just too much fun right now to keep your hands off of it!
***2017 Fenn Valley Michigan Nouveau (mostly Chambourcin with Zweigelt) My dear wife and most of my relatives were just a little too snobby to fully enjoy this. Nouveau is a wine to enjoy with gusto. The black-as-ink pigment has just a hint of ruby red on the rim and could stain your glass. In the nose, a burst of bright vivid raw fruit wafts up while the flavors of ripe wild woodland berries and passion fruit jam fill the mouth. It finishes with just enough acid to keep dry and fresh. Don’t feel like you need to drink the whole case before New Year’s Day. Last year, we were still enjoying the 2016 well into mid-summer.
