Cedre 'Le Cedre' 2006

A Château du Cedre red wine

(SL0000010163)

Our price £26.50 (inc VAT)

Minimum order quantity is 6 bottles.

Orders placed before midday will normally be delivered within 3-4 days

Country	France
Region	Cahors
Class	Cahors

Grape	Malbac
Volume	75cl
Style	Fruity and Full

If you think that Cahors is just brushing your teeth with tannin-flavoured twig juice, think again! Pascal Verhaeghe has been the driving force behind Cahors 'Quality Charter' and quality oozes from these wines. The estate was originally created by Charles Verhaeghe on vineyard land devastated by the frosts in 1956 in Viré-Sur-Lot. His sons Pascal and Jean-Marc duly studied winemaking, the former in Burgundy and California, the latter in Bordeaux. Ecological viticultural methods eschewing weedkillers and chemical fertilizers, yield reduction by serious pruning, leaf stripping for greater sun exposure and air circulation, harvesting the grapes on the verge of overripeness yield the superb raw material essential to create fabulous wines. In the cellars the Verhaeghes aim for softness, richness and harmony through gentle extraction by long vattings and limited pigeage, malolactic fermentation and sensible use of oak. We also receive a healthyallocation of his remarkable top treacle-thick cuvee 'Le Cèdre', made from the oldest vines on the estate, 'as cypress black as e'er was crow', sweet, perfumed and plum-pruney. Decant and be awed. This is 100% Malbec from 30-40 year old vines and miserly yields of 30hl/ha. The recipe is exacting: a tri de vendange, destemming, a light pressing, vinification at 30-32 degrees with pigeage and a 40 day cuvaison followed by a 100% malolactic fermentation in new oak barrels. The wine is then aged for twenty months where it acquires its fabulous colour, almost impenetrably dark with glossy purple tints. With its thick cassis aromas and wild raspberry fruit this is a meal in itself and should be eaten with great reverence and a long spoon. If you think that Cahors is just brushing your teeth with tannin-flavoured twig juice, think again! Pascal Verhaeghe has been the driving force behind Cahors 'Quality Charter' and quality oozes from these wines. The estate was originally created by Charles Verhaeghe on vineyard land devastated by the frosts in 1956 in Viré-Sur-Lot. His sons Pascal and Jean-Marc duly studied winemaking, the former in Burgundy and California, the latter in Bordeaux. Ecological viticultural methods eschewing weedkillers and chemical fertilizers, yield reduction by serious pruning, leaf stripping for greater sun exposure and air circulation, harvesting the grapes on the verge of overripeness yield the superb raw material essential to create fabulous wines. In the cellars the Verhaeghes aim for softness, richness and harmony through gentle extraction by long vattings and limited pigeage, malolactic fermentation and sensible use of oak. Le Grand Cèdre comes from vines yielding a mere 15hl/ha this black beauty, a thoroughbred in a fine stable of Cahorses, is aged in 500-litre new oak demi-muids with long lees contact, and is, as Andrew Jefford describes it so eloquently 'strikingly soft, lush and richly fruited, a kind of Pomerol amongst Cahors'. The Cèdre wines repay long ageing and will accompany local goat's cheeses such as Cabecou and Rocamadour, grilled meats and duck every which way.

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Buying this earns you 43 cork points per bottle