The Southwest, a Treasure Trove for Some of the Greatest French Wines - Part 1 Domaine Cosse-Maisonneuve & Elian Da Ros

Any self-respecting wine lover becomes passionate over time about the research and discovery of bottles, winemakers, associations of terroir and grape varieties which will prove to be remarkable, maybe wines to drink every day or great bottles for aging. There is still one region in France which allows such discoveries, in any color and any style except sparkling: the Southwest. 

The Southwest is a superb region that only the throes of history have removed from the spotlight. Wars, commercial competition, political fragmentations and terrible frosts have prevented this region from building a strong reputation. How to be recognized then? Work ten times harder, and sell at a reasonable price. This is what some exemplary winemakers have done - lovers of their region, they have stubbornly rehabilitated their unique terroirs and grape varieties, and they have nothing to envy to Burgundy or Bordeaux.  

If the region seems complicated to understand with so many different indigenous varieties and appellations, scattered like isolated constellations, tell yourself one thing: if these wines and AOCs have not disappeared, it is due to the fact that they possess an intrinsic quality which had allowed them to endure. So let’s (re) discover them. In this first email, we will focus solely on the red wines of Cahors and Côtes-du-Marmandais, with a nod to the spicy Fer Servadou of Marcillac in the Aveyron.

Cahors & Domaine Cosse-Maisonneuve, when Chambertin meets Pomerol.

Cahors should be a paradise for any Burgundy or Loire lover, and for Pomerol aficionados, but sadly, the appellation is still stuck in a false and caricatured image: that of black wine, made from ultra-extracted tannic Malbec without any nuance. But the region, with its long wine history dating back to the Romans, its historic renown and its terroirs, deserves to be rehabilitated. Equidistant from the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, developed on both banks of the Lot which curves its path like a snake, this region of polyculture has a remarkable geology with two main terroirs (which could be subdivided in 9 categories): the younger terraces (3) of siliceous alluvium deposited by the river, and the kimmeridgian limestone plateau called “causse” at 900 feet in elevation. This should ring a bell for Chablis or Aube lovers! There are also a few pockets of ferruginous clays not unlike the “boutonnière” of Petrus scattered on the plateau. Out of a potential 21,000 ha, only 4,600 ha are planted, in a very heterogeneous way: Cahors can offer real agronomic and wine diversity.

If the decree authorizes only red wines with Merlot and Tannat up to 30%, Cahors has a remarkable and totally misunderstood grape: Malbec, locally named Auxerrois but scientifically called Côt, as it is the founding grape of the Côtoide family, a variety originating from Quercy and not from Bordeaux nor Argentina. Neither rustic nor a fruit or green pepper bomb, it is a grape of intense color which can be remarkably velvety, subtly floral with nuances of violets when coming from high quality massale selection vines and good sites. It is without doubt a grape defined by the quality of its tanins, yet when well-made, it reachs a superb and rare combination of density and elegance! The phylloxera, then the 1956 frost, unfortunately delayed the replanting of Cahors' best plots with qualitative clones and rootstocks: the grafts did not take well, and the active limestone of the soil was a problem. The vineyard therefore was slowly rebuilt, on the less demanding flat areas with a selection of clones of poor quality. Then Bordeaux oenology settled in from wealthy properties to body-build simple juices with extraction and toasted barrels. Cahors became the “French Malbec”, known for its aging-potential thanks to non-refinable tannins. Fortunately today, a new generation of winemakers is revealing the true potential of Cahors in all its diversity of style: Château Combel-La-Serre, Le Clos d'un Jour, Mas del Périé and the figureheads of the renewal, Domaine Cosse-Maisonneuve. 

Domaine Cosse-Maisonneuve

For me, Catherine Maisonneuve and Matthieu Cosse are among the great vignerons of France. After meeting during their oenology studies, they decided to make Cahors wines and took over 10 ha in 1999 on the left bank of the Lot, renting then buying. Today the domaine farms 32 ha in Cahors (and owns 28 more hectares), mostly on the third terrace in Mauroux and Lacapelle-Cabanac (where you find also some calcareous grèzes). The only plot on the Lot right bank is in Marcouly, a 2.5 ha isolated vineyard on siderolithic ferrous clays dedicated to their cuvée Marguerite. The third terrace is often considered to be the most interesting terroir of the area, but it is partially due to the fact the most demanding plots on slope have not been replanted. 20 years of exemplary biodynamic approach and reflection on biodiversities (inspired by George Oxley) is at the origin of the quality of the wines: Malbec can only express its complexity on living soils. It is a complicated variety which does not like excessively rich soils, has a small picking window, does not support either over-extraction or over-maturity. You have to be extremely precise with this finicky grape otherwise it is either too tannic and astringent or overripe. All their Cahors cuvées are 100% from Malbec. All the vinifications are carried out by indigenous yeasts with a homeopathic use of sulfur. The extractions are extremely gentle, the grapes are de-stemmed, and macerations are long. Press juices are always vinified separately and rarely blended. The result is a superb range, where each cuvée is worked with the highest standards, adapting in the smallest details the vinification and aging to the soil and the plant material of the plot. If Catherine is the one living on site all year long, as Matthieu (one of the most exceptional blind-tasters I know) consults in Provence, the decisions are always made together. 

2018 is an extra-ordinary experience - biodynamic farming and trust (in your vineyards) were needed not to freak out about the oenological figures. Cahors' elegance and freshness paradoxically come when the right polyphenols are ripe, not before not after. In that vintage, it was easy to make a good wine, but extremely complicated to make an outstanding wine (even though it was a vintage for it): one had to wait for the skins and the pips to be absolutely ripe, despite the rising alcohol as they allow the true expression of terroirs in a red wines. One needed to take a calculated risk, only possible by a real, humble, observant farming. Catherine Maisonneuve & Matthieu Cosse, with their painstaking care and thoroughness, achieved it. 

Elian & Sandrine Da Ros, the Côtes-du-Marmandais finally in the spotlight 

Even in France, the Marmandais region is quite obscure unless you are a rugby or a tomato aficionado. Upstream along the Garonne in the Lot-et-Garonne, barely 45 min drive from Sauternes, this softly rolling, peaceful area is historically a polycultural land of tobacco, grains, and tomatoes whose fame is due to early 19th century Italian immigration bringing with them seeds and agricultural know-how. The vineyards appear on the best hillsides but until recently their potential was ignored: before 1936 and the AOCs, they were blended with Bordeaux wines and afterwards, the two cooperatives vinified them as entry-level wines for supermarkets. It is only in the last 20 years and the creation of the Domaine Elian Da Ros that the Côtes-du-Marmandais has been known as a real, serious wine region. A third generation of farmers of Italian origins, he knew, when spending time in the small home vineyard with his Venetian grandmother and drinking her house-made sweet white sous-voile wines, that he would be a vigneron one day. Without any historical reference of the regional style, he just knew the importance of local Abouriou, a grape variety preserved during the creation of the appellation in 1989 in order to avoid making a pale copy of Bordeaux. But Elian also knew he had to discover the expression of Cabernets, Merlot, Malbec, Syrah, Sauvignon on these soils of limestone clays, boulbenes and gravels specific to the Marmandais. Inspired by the few years he spent at the Zind-Humbrecht estate, where he helped Olivier to set up biodynamics, he carefully chose his plots, converting them to organic then biodynamic, uprooting, replanting with high quality masssle selections, creating a wine cellar and a barrel cellar. He grew at his own pace to reach today 22 hectares, divided into two main islands around the winery in Cocumont on the left bank of the Garonne. With the exception of Abouriou, which is 100% dedicated to this indigenous grape variety, all the wines are blends created with the greatest precision, from vin de soif to vin de garde. The sulfur doses are minimal, the wines are carefully raised on their fine lees. Today, the titanic work pays off, and the whole range radiates like a superb expression of a unique personality. They are to be discovered absolutely for any lover of true great Bordeaux or Loire Cabernet Franc on tuffeau.

And a nod to the beautiful vineyards of Aveyron with Nicolas Carmarans (Estaing) and Domaine du Cros (Marcillac), and their fight for Fer Servadou.

As a treat, you will also find in this offer 2 delicious cuvées from one of our favorite underdog, Fer Servadou, a little cousin of Cabernet Franc (think Cabernet Franc meets Pineau d'Aunis!). You find Fer a little bit all over the Southwest under different names : Braucol in Gaillac, Pinenc in Madiran, Servadou in Côtes-du-Marmandais, and Mansois in Aveyron where the cuvées below are from. And it fact, its best expression is on the granitic slopes or the iron-rich limestone veins (locally called rougiers) of the western part of the Massif Central, where it is celebrated on its own by rare vignerons that decided to fight for the rebirth of this historic vineyard.

Domaine du Cros and Nicolas

Carmarans, each with their style and their terroir, are fantastic ambassadors of Fer Servadou: their wines are also perfect to be enjoyed now that Spring is in full bloom! The lovely crunchy pomegranate, red currant, paprika and medicinal notes fit very well the greens we start to see late April. Acid driven, both wines offer well-handled tannins bringing just enough structure to ask for fatty fish or poultry, or lean red meat.

See original article on the CSW website.