On Oct 28, 3:26 pm, "Nils Gustaf Lindgren"
> wrote:
> Hello,
> A select group of winos met at the home of the Dynamic Duo (self and Xina)
> yesterday. The reason: test a few Cahors of different vintages to find out
> when they are enjoyable - if ever.
> Self had made a cassoulet of game (roe buck) and provided three wines,
> Ch Theron 2002
> Ch Triguedina 1993
> Clos Du Peche de Jammes 1983.
> One of the participants brought a Ch le Caix 1997 - to a Scandinavian this
> is special because the domaine is owned by the Queen of Denmark and her
> husband, Prince Henrik.
>
> The 2002 was very closed, lots of tannines, nose very shy, some dark fruit.
> Mouthfeel was overpowering tannines. Charmless, in fact.
> The 1993 was comparatively speaking much more open. It had a lovely nose of
> black prunes and dried black olives - in fact, not unlike a Syrahdriven
> Rhone valley wine from a warmish year. Also a pepperiness, and event mint.
> It still had a lot of tannines, but a certain fruity sweetness which gave it
> both an accomodating feeling, while at the same time appearing to have
> several years to reach its top.
> The 1983 was even more reach in the nose, but perhaps at the same time
> tiring - the tannines ahd softened, and the sweetness was much more
> predominant. This too, had a lot of dark, dried fruit, but a certain
> shortness.
> The 1997 was opened late in the evening and I am sad to say, left no notes.
>
> If it is possible to cme to any conclusions from this paucity of data, it
> might be that a Cahors wine needs upwards of 15 years in the cellar to be
> approachable, and then will do much better with a meal with red meat or
> game. A hunter´s wine, as they say in France.
>
> Cheers
>
> Nils
> --
> Respond to nils dot lindgren at drchips dot se

Most Cahors today seems to be made in a somewhat modern style and has
little in common with the old "black" Cahors. From a commercial
standpoint this likely was necessary, because few would wait for an
old classic Cahors to age up to several decades - right or wrong, it
does not have the "star" reputation of say top Burgundy or Bordeaux.
And few, if any, of the growers would have the resources to age it
before release at a few decades of age.

Clos de Gamot was one of the few that kept classic Cahors alive in the
last century. I don't know how their recent vintages stack up. I had a
bottle of their 1937 a year or two ago, and I think I gave tasting
notes here. It was still quite drinkable and likely would last at
least several more years. It had thrown a large amount of very dark
sediment over the years. When young, you likely could not see through
the wine except using a very strong light. It reminded me a bit of
some Northern Italian wines. It had plenty of acids. The tannins were
fairly well resolved, but still quite apparent and somewhat dry. It
likely would be good with game, well hung if you like that sort of
thing. It likely could hold up to even roast mastodon, especially when
the wine is somewhat younger. Frozen mastedons still sometimes are
found in ice in Siberia and elsewhere, and wild animals sometimes eat
them. However, I fear that if I ate mastedon, I would soon be a guest
at the local hospital and have a stomach pump used on me :-) .