“This is simply gorgeous.” - JancisRobinson.com, 17.5 points

This stunning Malbec from Cahors in South West France is a wine that has needed every minute of the time it has spent maturing, but all patience has been rewarded, as it's now in seriously fine shape. Rich, smooth, sweetly-ripe, plush, inky, sexy and serious. Those aren't the adjectives I usually write after tasting a Cahors. Dark, brooding, tannic, muscular and grippy tend to be the ones I reach for, so it was a joy to taste such an uplifting example that marries the bass grunt of Malbec (known locally as 'Cot') with fabulous grace notes. There had to be a reason.

Speaking to the owner, Philippe Lejeune, it became clear that 3 factors were involved. Firstly, the vineyards sit at a higher altitude than their neighbours and the diurnal temperature flux can be as much as 20 degrees, which contributes enormously to aromatic complexity. Secondly, the soil in this part of Cahors is rich in limestone, which gives a sense of 'minerality' sometimes absent in the wines sourced from vineyards based on clay. Thirdly, the winemaker eschews a heavy extraction and keeps the temperature relatively low during fermentation in order to avoid the 'cooked' or 'stewed' flavours that dog so many reds from this region, known famously as the 'black wines of Cahors' (and note the alcohol level of 13% abv, which is well below the average for wine from this region).

The result is a wine that would knock the spots off any red Bordeaux at this price. There's an abundance of black fruits, as you would expect, but complicated by notes of turned soil, tobacco leaf and wet clay, not wholly dissimilar to a top-flight Saint Emilion. The sweet-sour balance is perfectly achieved, making it mouth-wateringly succulent, and the wine just oozes finesse in its long, glossy, cassis-laden finish. It is just stepping into its drinking window now (you can see from the colour that it still has the healthy glow of youth), but will probably improve over the coming 5 years and surely hold until 2035 at least. This is a wine to buy by the case and enjoy over the coming decade. Highly recommended. 13% alc. Drink now-2035.

Press review:

JancisRobinson.com: “This is simply gorgeous. It's silky and shining with energy, with deep-core red fruit, with that little special je ne sais quoi that some wines just have and you cannot put your finger on it. It's one of those wines that you can say, 'it tastes of cherries and cinnamon and girolles and camp-fire embers', but that doesn't capture this wine. It's all those things but more than that: it's a wine that has found its pole star. It pulses with focus, mission, purity of fruit. The tannins are endlessly long and endlessly elegant. Every bit of this wine comes together in an orchestra of voices, everything makes sense. (TC). Drink now-2035.” 17.5 points

The Wine Enthusiast (Roger Voss): “A bold juicy wine, with beautifully intense fruits layered over fruit that is almost mature. There is a spicy, smoky character to the that has been softened by wood aging. Organic and biodynamic.” 92 points