(gout de terroir) ‘TESTING THE EXTENT TO WHICH TERROIR SHOWS THROUGH IN THE GLASS DOUBLESPEAK COUP DE CAHORS, ORTHE HAND OF GOD? he making of French Malbec in Cahors being cove y influenced by the success of Malbec in Argentina? Tim Atkin MW finds lots to lalk about during a blind tasting of Malbees from Cahors and Argentina, in conversation with Ge Do wraps varieties wvtain their essential personality as they trot across the globe? Most of the time the answe Pinot, Sangiovese, and Temprsnid, for example—are more likely to mutate thanothers.Terrcirclimate, elds and the purple abprint of the Winemaker will alo influence style, but the grapes baste charecter—its nature as opposed to re, i you Tike—isa constant ‘The most stiiking case of a grape goingnativois surely Malbec ‘The contrast between the Malbec~ based redsof Cahors the minimum required for the appellat percent) and thas of Argentina is extreme. The former are famously dense, black, and chesy, while those produced in Mendoza, Salt, San Juan, and Patagonia are aromatic and fleshy. Only color, andto.a lesser extent aninins,areshaned by thetwo iateepretat of the grape. Tasting a Cahors alongs Malbec. they sometimes appearta he made from different grapes at least, that's the theory. Malbec has had more than a century and ahal to get wed to the mon arid conditions of Argentinas dost like climate. The irony i thatthe so-called uve francesa wvas brought in by a Frenchman, Miguel Aimé Pouget, yes, even if some— vine age, wd Basset MS MW and Anthony Rose albeit seting under instruction from the Argentinian government, in the 1850s, Itis unlikely that the as there isin Cahors. But what about the stuff in the ass? Are the wi ‘hwo countries as easy to tell apart ‘as people say? Cahors has certainly been influenced by Argentinas nt least inthe sense that it is keen t promote itsell as the home of the ‘original Malbec™ rather than just asouthvvest French blend of typically, Mathes. Tannat, and Medlot, But what impact has that had on its wines, specifically ‘on levels of ripeness and the hair-shiet taxnins that used tocharacterize the appellation? ‘To find cut, Gerard Basset MW, Anthony Rose, and I Blind-asted 40 wines (ar from Cahors aud 1g. fom Angentina), Almost without exception, these were varietals—another sign of the growing renown and popularity of Malbec. Vintages ranged from00 4t0 2008, ‘with Argentina providing most of the younger wines, The lineup included many of ihe leading names from the twin poles of Malhee: production, namely: Achaval Ferrer, Bodega Noemia, Catena Zapata, Trapiche, s of thesewaALBEe Yacochuya, Cobos, Alfa Crux, and Alta Vista from Argentina; Chateau du Cadre, Clos Triguedina, Chateau de Chambert, Chateau Lamartine, Gos de Gamot, aml Domaine La Bérangeraie from Cahors. Some preducers submitted more than one anid this could justifiably be considered the best Malbec tasting ever held in London. This was confirmed by the quality of wines. Gerard Basset felt that “there were a few wines that had! faults, most notably reduction and some Brett, but overall the quality level was very good.” Anthony Rose commented that some of the wines wore “ovorripe to the extent of being Porty” and eritieized others for being overoaked, but he, too, felt that the general level was very high. For The Argentinian wines were also less of a caricature than we expectec Charobnées de la Bérangersie, or the Michel Rolland. inspired Chateau Lagrézette, in Cahors, ‘The Azgentinian wines were also less of a caricature than we expected. Amidalltheoak dense purple color and alcohol, there was weltome evidence of gweater balance finesse, and understanding of phenolic ripeness. We were confident that several of the top wines (Achasal Ferron Noeraia, Catena Zapatas Argentina, and Trapiche's Vina Domingo F Sarmiento} would age wellin bottlerather than collapsing in pull of portance three warshence, Argentins'top ssines are ail anprosing. “What did th tstingteachus? Three thing. First, that while Cabors and Argentina make very different styles of Malbec, the differences are not as marked as they once We were confident that several of the top wines would age well in bottle rather than collapsing in a puddle of pruney sel importance three years hence. Argentina’ top wines are still improving wy part 1 gave five wines 18 points. As a group, we scited on three wines below 5 pains Malbec is capable of a greater range of styles in ngentina than in Cahors, mainly because of differenc latitude and altitude, but this was harder to identify in this tasting because the majority of the South American wines eame feor Mendoza, Ror all that, the two top Argentinian Malbees were more “elegant” than many of ‘their counterparts: Achaval Ferret, sourced from theee distinct zones in Mendoaa; and Bodega Noewia from Patagonia, Both showed considerable complesiy. Tespected the Argentinian wines to trounee thei French ivalainablind tasting partly be cause they are the sovts of reds that don't need tannin-taming, food io shove atiheirbest,Butthatwasvory farfrom thease, Argentina took two ofthe top three spots, but Cahors has four wines inthe topten. Wore we always confident of distinguishing between the two countries’ wines? Ta our surprise, we were not T eame with definite prejudices,” said Anthony Rose, ‘I ‘was confident that I could distinguish Argentina from Cahors. Thete was a distinction, but not akvays. [found that there were some Malloes from Cabi lovely ripeness. They were suffisontly opulent and rich tobe Argent ‘We all agreed that the hest Cahors weer riper supplor than we expected, tha to be higher and dbier in the French wines, But the fruit Jeyels werent far behind the Argentinian Malbecs some instances. It would certainly lake a brave taster to place the Domaine La Bérangeraie Les Quatre ne tannins levels tended were largely because Cahors is making lessaustere wines may be related 10 warmer seasons or just to later picking, Second, the success of Argentinian Malbec has ‘encouraged some producers in Cahors to change the syle, though many of the best wines are quintessentially French. And third, that Malbec potentiallya world-class grape—wherever its grown,