South West France

Château du Cèdre

• Charly 2020, the first vines remembered: Charly 2020 honours Charles Verhaeghe through his oldest malbec vines, with 1,200 bottles announced for this single vintage. The wine comes from La Mémé, the parcel Charles planted in 1958 with a massal selection that he grafted by hand.
• A long, restrained maturation: Charly is made by vinification intégrale, with 20% whole bunches, and rests for two and a half years on fine lees without added sulphur. Three demi-muids made from oak around three hundred years old were chosen for a long, discreet maturation.
• Vines among the lavender: Léon Verhaeghe left Belgium by bicycle in 1914 and found refuge in the Lot. His son Charles met Marie-Thérèse Rives there; together they planted their first hectare among lavender in 1958. The first family bottling followed in 1973, while lavender distillation continued.

Château Montus - Vignobles Brumont

• Montus Prestige puts tannat first: Alain Brumont bought Montus in 1980 to show what tannat could achieve. Montus Prestige, launched in 1985, carried that ambition into a wine made entirely from the variety, with reduced yields and long maturation in new oak.
• A different ambition for Madiran: Writing in Decanter, Steven Spurrier saw Montus Prestige’s combination of pure tannat, reduced yields and long new-oak ageing as a turning point in Madiran’s recognition.

Domaine Sergent

Estate listed by the local appellation body for both Madiran and Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh, illustrating neighbouring red and white production.

Domaine Bellegarde

• The camaralet path: Maxime Labasse notably works with camaralet, a little-planted local variety, in the white « Unique ». The 2024 vintage carries IGP Comté Tolosan; « Pierre Blanche », another estate cuvée, is a dry Jurançon.
• Making and bottling the wine themselves: In 1985, his father Pascal Labasse took over the family vines in Monein and decided to vinify and then bottle the wine himself.

Clos Triguedina

South West France · Cahors

• Probus, selected from the oldest malbec: Probus draws on Clos Triguedina’s oldest malbec vines, some a hundred years old. Jean Baldès created the cuvée in 1976 to express his ambitions for Cahors, naming it after a Roman emperor as a tribute to Quercy’s winegrowing history.
• Structure with freshness: Probus Cuvée Prestige 2021 shows ripe dark fruit, smoke and spice. Its generous, structured palate retains tension through a fresh finish.
• Selected plots and barrels: Probus selects old Malbec from the third terrace of the Lot, on clay-siliceous and clay-limestone subsoils. It matures for twelve months in new oak, after which the best barrels are selected.

Domaine Cauhapé

South West France · Jurançon

• Harvesting as winter approaches: For « Noblesse du Temps », Henri Ramonteu waits until late November to early December and harvests in several passes. Petit manseng’s thick skin allows the grapes to remain on the vine until this advanced stage of ripeness.
• Petit manseng also takes its time in cask: After this late harvest, the wine spends eighteen months in casks. « Noblesse du Temps » is a sweet jurançon made from petit manseng.
• Sweetness lifted by citrus: « Noblesse du Temps » 2020, a sweet Jurançon: candied fruit, honey and almond, with citrus and spice. A smooth palate lifted by appealing vigour.