Causse du Theron Terrasse Cahors Malbec 2023

Causse du Theron Terrasse Cahors Malbec

Region: Cahors, South West France, France

Vintage: 2023

Bottle size: 75cl

Grape: Malbec

ABV: 13.5%

The ‘Terrasse’ has ripe kirsch aromas on the nose with hints of candied fruit. On the palate, this wine has fresh acidity and delicate tannins with flavours of ripe blueberries. The finish is long and perfumed.

Situated in the western part of Cahors in the village of the Soturac, the Terrasse vineyard gives its name to this wine. The grapes are sourced from a 2.5 hectare selected plot in the 12-hectare Terrasse vineyard, which is located in a valley on alluvial soil rich in calcium carbonate. The vines are 40 years old, resulting in a wine of excellent concentration.

The grapes were machine harvested. After careful sorting at the winery, fermentation took place in temperature-controlled, stainless-steel tanks using ambient yeasts. The wine spent between 15-21 days on its skins with gentle pump overs to aid extraction. The wine then aged for 18 months in cement tanks to allow it to mellow. The wine was lightly filtered prior to bottling, however, no fining took place.

In 2013, Antonio Morescalchi, of Altos Las Hormigas in Argentina, and renowned soil-mapping expert Pedro Parra, visited Cahors to learn more about the origins of Malbec. The appellation's soil diversity fascinated the duo, especially in the vineyards planted on Kimmeridgian limestone terraces known as ‘causses’. “It took us five years to find limestone in Argentina, here, it took five minutes.” Pedro exclaims. As a result, they identified two remarkable vineyards to make wines from, ‘Terrasse’ and ‘En Pente’, founding Causse du Théron in the process. Today Antonio and Pedro work with talented winemakers Sebastien and Pierre Sigaud’s, whose father Jean-Marie drove the quality resurgence in Cahors and was early to recognise the potential of limestone-grown Malbec.