Spring began with very mild, even unusually warm temperatures and a rainfall deficit in April and May. An exceptionally sunny June provided perfect conditions for flowering, followed by 60 mm of rain in the middle of the month. The weather remained nice until the longed for rainfalls (without strong thunderstorms) in the middle of August. The vineyards were enjoying perfect health and despite of some rainfalls early September, the grapes ripened under best conditions.

Picking of white grapes began on September 15^th, the reds followed on September 24^th. Crops were still healthy with moderate sugar contents (13.5% vol. on an average) and gave us balanced and mineral wines, full of promises. A vintage with great potential.

Seven years - that’s a good moment to taste a wine, which can be stored for 10 to 15 years. Halftime. The first half of the game is up, time to make a point and to develop a strategy for the upcoming years: drink soon or continue ageing?

2009 applies as a sunny vintage, perfectly reflecting in the bouqet this blend of 90% Malbec and 5% Merlot and Tannat. Powerful and exuberant, the aroma of black cherries, mint and bay leaf seems to jump right out of the glass... Completed by hints of raspberrie marmelade and the smell of fresh pastries, I would characterize it as a “winter fragrance”,.

On the palate, sweet spices are showing up, emphasizing the gentlemanlike character of the wine: straight, fresh and smooth. The tannins seem to have been tamed by time, friendly tickling the palate. They accompany the wine on the long, fresh final, gaining in strength and depth. Mint flavors leave a fresh aftertaste. Enjoy it from 2016 to 2021.

FOOD MATCHES FOR HERBIVORES: Try a gratin of root vegetables (carrots, potatoes, parsnips) or serve the wine as an aperitif with lukewarm vegetable chips (parsnip, carrot and beetroot!).

FOOD MATCHES FOR CARNIVORES: Simple and tasty dishes, such as a calf Kottelet with red wine sauce or a steak with juniper butter. And sauté potatoes!

The always-colourful wines, made of ideally ripe, selected grapes, have attained an infrequent level of quality and regularity. Tannins are of seductive velvetiness, and ageing of the wines is done with skills and mastery.

The Cahors 2012 has stared a nice, classic evolution, always conducted by fine tannins. Accurate extraction for the Cèdre 2012, concentrated and long, with smooth tannins. Marked with black fruit and chocolate flavours, GC 2012 asks some years of his ageing to ripen and to fully deliver its fine texture. Le Cèdre Malbec Vintage, crispy and palatable will perfectly match with blue cheese.

From the “Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France 2016” - Revue du Vin de France

Let’s save time on the colour of this pure Malbec. It is, of course, pitch black... What else?

On the other hand, the bouquet deserves a little more attention. Its freshness is striking, remaining autumn: forest floor, mushrooms, some dried fruit and sour cherry. Being “a true wine to age” and “wine of patience”, it takes its time to open up and would not mind a carafe, despite his advanced age. If you are without a carafe, I recommend to open the wine two to three hours before serving, so that it has time to fully develop its fragrances.

The sour cherries stay, while the forest floor and mushrooms withdraw, leaving the arena to a large variety of spices (pepper, cedar, laurel), black fruits (blackberries, cassis), dried fruits (figs, hazelnuts) and a hint of biscuit. What impressed me most about this bouquet, is not only the great diversity of flavors emerging from the glass, but its continuous change of nuances.

On the palate things are getting serious. The mouth stays quiet when facing the stunning minerality and the impressive bataillon of tannins. Don’t worry, they are very polite and courteous, behaving with delicacy and finesse. No hardness, no dryness! I must admit, that they are in very good company of a pleasant mouthfeel and enchanting flavors ...

Excellent, or rather monumental in its current constitution, the wine leaves no doubt about the fact that it still has an impressive aging potential. An enjoyable promise for the upcoming years!

FOOD MATCHES FOR CARNIVORES: This wine is a true duck hunter! With morels, with honey and thyme or why not in its far eastern “Beijing” variant with basmati rice and some sauteed eggplant and shitake mushrooms? More classical: veal with red wine sauce, mashed potatoes with truffles and red cabbage.

FOOD MATCHES FOR HERBIVORES: Keep the mashed potatoes with truffles and use them to make a vegetarian “Hachis Parmentier”. Another proposal: ravioli stuffed with Parmesan cream, fried oyster mushrooms, sweet onions and sundried tomatoes.

Dear friends,

a few days before harvest, we would like to share some thoughts about the vintage 2014, a crucial year in our wine production. During the last harvest, we fermented several tanks and even some barrels of the Cuvée GC without addition of sulphur. Approximately 70% of our grapes were transformed into wine by natural yeasts through this vinification “without safety net”. Today, almost twelve months later, the reaction of the wines is still surprising: The expressiveness of the fruit is amazing, the grapes dominate everything.

Added sulphur acts like an antibiotic, standardizing the wines. We started our experiments with sulphur-free wine making already in 2004. It’s above all a learning process, not only in the cellar, but also in the vineyard, as only healthy and balanced grapes, here from organic farming, allow making choices.

Breaking free from sulphur under appropriate precautions opens new perspectives of wine quality. One discovers an unsuspected range of aromas (sulphur covers the flavours), tannins of great delicacy and a large ageing potential, because everything has been done to give the wines a natural resistance to oxidation. In addition, the wines seem to be much more digestible.

The balance of the first decade of sulphur-free winemaking is very positive and encouraging. The vintage 2014 even gave us the possibility to produce a first, new sulphur-free wine. A Cahors “Extra Libre” (Extra free) that will be available from October. A truly charming, elegant and soft wine, made from the same vineyards as the “classic” Château du Cèdre. A wine that encourages us to continue on the path we choose over the next few years, towards ever-lower sulphur addition in all our wines.

We wish you a pleasant autumn,
Sincerely yours,

Pascal and Jean-Marc Verhaeghe

Does wine need more freedom? We do not have an answer yet. If we intervene as little as possible in the cellar, we nevertheless keep a close watch on our wines and the creation of our Cahors Extra Libre became possible only after years of preparation in the vineyards.

Being a free wine, the Cahors Extra Libre immediately shows its (black) colour. Wild berries, spices and pipe tobacco ... a seemingly indomitable bouquet. At ease in the glass, it quickly moderates its temper, showing more fruit and delicate fragrances of violet and elderflower. On the palate the wine surprises as much, appearing airy as well as dense and compact. However, though extremely delicate, the wine never tries to deny its roots from Cahors, as coined by the spiciness and cedar wood character on the final.

A wine that surprises us by its expressiveness and its diversity, sticking close to its origin and grape variety. He’s definitely free, this Cahors ...

"We are not labeled for biodynamic farming, but we apply it in our vineyards. We never claimed the status of being entirely biodynamic, because it’s more comfortable to practice in small areas. However, we try to get as close to it as possible. Fifteen years ago, people looked at the proponents of biodynamics like they were lunatics. They even seemed to be a little sectarian. But then, step by step things evolved and we realized that there are a lot of things that work relatively well, although we cannot exactly explain why. In practice, we see that the vines are healthier, that the grapes are of better quality: We get to phenolic maturity with less alcohol, plant mortality is decreasing year after year, etc. A whole number of little things tell us we are on the right track.

For the record: We went for organic farming in 1992, when we have learned that our father had fallen ill because of the chemicals. This was the moment we decided that we had to work differently. Today, among all those who work with us in the vineyards, nobody wants to return to the times we used chemicals."

Extract from the article Vino2Travel

I particularly love this punchy red wine in summer! What really strikes when tasting it, is the liveliness and freshness that it displays. Moderately tannic, I would describe it as being crispy and vigorous, with just enough generosity as it needs. Could we call a wine from Cahors being thirst-quenching? Yes we can, as this wine is living proof! It’s is a young, enthusiastic and happy wine...

I forgot to mention its visual and olfactory aspects? Please excuse me: It’s black and purple as a real Malbec should be, having a lovely bouquet of fresh black fruit, with hints of violet and notes caramelized hazelnuts.

CARNIVORE wine-lovers among us will be delighted to discover this red wine, that strongly supports long BBQ-evenings in summer. But it will also comfort the HERBIVORE connoisseur by sublimating a fresh tomato salad with feta cheese and black olives and perfectly matches to all kind of grilled summer vegetables.