2015 Chateau Nozieres Ambroise de l'Her Cahors Malbec 750 ml

Malbec From the Source: Cahors

Cahors is where the story of Malbec begins, and the 2015 Château Nozières is a classic expression—what the locals drink on Sundays next to a baguette and a velvety slab of foie gras. Of course, at $14.99 with a 92-point score from the Decanter World Wine Awards, there’s cause to pop a cork any day of the week. Decanter called the 2015 “understated and serious, searching and long.” Anchored by an unctuous core of brooding dark fruit, this classic Malbec offers vibrancy and complexity as well, lifted by juicy acidity and touched with spice, bramble, and clove. Like in Bordeaux, the 2015 vintage elevated wines at every price point in Cahors, making reds like the 2015 Nozières a shocking value. For Malbec and Bordeaux lovers alike, this is not to be missed.

The dense, voluptuous Malbecs from Cahors, known as “black wine” for their deep, inky color, were for centuries among the most coveted in the world. Roman officers sipped it while regular soldiers drank Burgundy. Pope John XXII declared it the official papal communion wine. English kings and queens toasted with it at their weddings, and Russia’s Peter the Great filled cargo hulls with cases full of Cahors Malbec.

But Cahors lies 130 miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean, and to reach the royalty of England and beyond, the wines had to go through Bordeaux. There, jealous Bordelais producers schemed to increase their own exports by securing tax exemptions for themselves. They also imposed levies on their neighbors’ product, putting it out of reach of most, stuffing a cork in Cahors’ status as the favorite drink of the throne.

Fast-forward to today, and the brilliant renaissance of Cahors. The vintners outside this small medieval village should be venerating the producers of Argentinian Malbec for reigniting worldwide interest in the grape. But while Argentina is known for exuberant, opulent, fruit-forward expressions of the grape, the wines of Cahors—Malbec’s spiritual home—show classic Gallic finesse: They are dense, but tightly wound and lean, sleek and beautifully honed.

Chateau Nozières, which is operated by third-generation Olivier, has been producing Malbec-dominant vins noirs on their 125-acre property west of the village of Cahors since well before Malbec’s recent rise. The Malbec is softened with a tiny portion of Merlot, and the wine spends just over a year in once- and twice-used French oak barrels. The 2015 vintage, whose effects on Bordeaux are already legendary, was unbelievably kind to vineyards throughout le Sud-Ouest, yielding wines of startling value across the board. If ever there was a time for lovers of Malbec and lovers of value Bordeaux to familiarize themselves with Cahors—again or for the first time—this is it.