2012 Haut-Monplaisir "Tradition" Cahors

Staff Reviews

KM

Keith Mabry

Keith Mabry

K&L Buyer

I first had the Haut Monplaisir "Tradition" on a cold winter's day in February in the Hollywood Hills part of Los Angeles. Okay maybe it wasn't that cold, we're talking about LA here. We did have it with cassoulet though which is truly a classic pairing. The wine showed ripe black and blue fruit with polished tannins. It was expressive and inviting, especially for a Cahors which for years were more rustic wines that could be a little rough around the edges. It was delicious. Flash forward a few months, having retasted the wine, I found it to have much of the lovely Malbec fruit qualities but it was beginning to show more of its terroir. The black and blue fruit was there but notes of graphite and fresh crushed herbs emerged. Fans of Malbec from Argentina may be swayed to try the wine because of the fruit but they'll stay for the layers of complexity from this most classic of Malbec producing regions.

Notes

These days, when you think of Malbec you often think of Argentina. But Southwestern France's Cahors appellation is the ancestral home of this black grape, situated in the high country (Haut Pays), equidistant from the Atlantic, the Pyrenees, and the Mediterranean. It is drier than Bordeaux or the Languedoc in fall and distinguished by its red, limestone-based soils flush with iron oxide. It is here that Cathy and Daniel Fournié farm Château Haut-Monplaisir with its 44.5 acres on what locals call the third terrace of the Lot Valley floor, the highest and the best by virtue of its well-drained soils. Their "Tradition" is 100% Malbec, made in cement vats and bottled without fining or filtration. It shows the opulence of the vintage coupled with the intensity found in Haut-Monplaisir's other wines. The nose is smoky and spicy with penetrating aromas of strawberry and iron. The flavors are ripe with strawberry and black cherry balanced by a meaty, spicy counterpoint. The tannins are ripe and round and the wine finishes seamlessly with a delightful mineral component. 13.5% abv.