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Chateau Combel la Serre, Cahors, 2022

Red Wine from Southwest France, France
$26.99
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This is Cahors from a grower who thinks the appellation's own grape is the only one worth bothering with: 100% Malbec (called Auxerrois locally), from estate plots totalling 5 hectares, with vines averaging 40 years old. The rules only require 70% Auxerrois, but Julien Ilbert believes it's the only grape suited to what he wants to do. His playful labels and Burgundy-style bottles are a bold move in a region as traditional as Cahors. His family farmed these vines for generations but sent every grape to the local co-op until Julien broke away in 1998. A meeting at a rugby match then made him the main Auxerrois supplier for vigneron-négociant Mathieu Cosse for seven years, until an amicable split in 2005 and the launch of Combel-la-Serre. Home is the village of Cournou on the Causse Calcaire, a limestone plateau at 320-350 meters. The family gave up chemicals years before the estate was certified organic in 2015. It's a great way into modern Cahors from a grower who knows exactly what he believes.

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More about Chateau Combel la Serre

Julien Ilbert is a Cahors grower with an unfashionable conviction: Malbec, which locals call Côt or Auxerrois, is all the region needs. His Combel-la-Serre wines are fresh, pure Malbec in Burgundy bottles and a deliberate break from Cahors's old reputation for black, brooding reds.

The Ilberts have grown grapes around Saint-Vincent-Rive-d'Olt, in the Lot valley, for generations, but for most of that time the fruit went to the local cooperative. Julien struck out on his own in 1998, spent several years supplying grapes to the Cahors producer Mathieu Cosse, and began making wine under the Château Combel-la-Serre name after the two parted amicably in 2005. The family once farmed conventionally; after Julien's grandfather died of Parkinson's disease, which the family linked to chemical exposure, they gave up the chemicals, and the estate has been certified organic since the 2015 vintage.

Today there are about 25 hectares, all Malbec, on varied sites within a few kilometers of the cellar, including the limestone plateau, or causse, above the river. Fermentations run on native yeasts, much of the aging is in concrete, and the cellar touch is light. The range runs from Le Pur Fruit du Causse, a juicy, bright entry point, to the Château bottling and a handful of smaller cuvées. This is Cahors for people who think they don't like Cahors.

Wine Details

  • Grape Variety

    Malbec

  • Vintage

    2022

  • Size

    750ml

  • Farming Practice

    Organic

  • Style

    Fruity

  • Sweetness

    Dry

  • Body

    Medium Bodied

Flatiron's Take

From the Importer

What Bowler Wine has to say about this wine:

100% Malbec (aka Auxerrois locally). The fruit for the "Château" bottling comes from estate plots totaling 5 hectares with vines averaging 40 years old. All of Combel's vines are limestone-rich soils typical of the Causse Calcaire plateau on which they liebut the vines in this cuvée are on rockier, redder, more clay-forward soils. The farming is certified-organic and in conversion to biodynamics. The yield is kept to 35-40 hl/ha. The bunches are hand-harvested and mainly destemmed but with up to 20% directly pressed as whole clusters. The juice ferments at cool temperatures with indigenous yeasts in cement tanks with around 20 days of maceration. The wine is aged in a combination of used barrique, demi-muid and 50-hectoliter cask for a year. It is bottled without filtration and with minimal sulfur.

Tasting Notes & Food Pairings

Perfect Pairings

Duck confit with sarladaise potatoes, cassoulet, grilled lamb chops with garlic and rosemary, Toulouse sausages, or a steak-frites night.

Tasting Profile

Expect the darker, more savoury side of Malbec typical of Cahors: blackberry, black plum and violet, with hints of earth and spice. It's usually medium- to full-bodied, with firm but ripe tannins and the fresh acidity that vines on high limestone plateaus tend to give. The finish should be dry and lightly mineral.

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