North to Cahors

Monday, March 27th

Busy day. Ran off to my first rendez-vous with Yves and Hermann at Clos Gamot and Chateau du Cayrou, two Cahors estates that he and his wife Martine own. Yves can talk. Lovely, warm man, maybe 50 strong SW sing-song accent.

He toured me through their two different holdings and different chai. Truly sperate estates and terroirs.

I learned a great deal about the various sites in Cahors in a short time, especially which side of the Lot you wanted to be on. Clos Gamot is a cooler site than Chateau du Cayrou and delivers a different aromatic profile. Gamot also has very old vines which helps keep their yields down to 20-25 hl/ha, which in an appellation like Cahors is kind of crazy low. Gamot is 100 percent Malbec or Auxerrois as it's called locally (or Caute in the slang). Cayrou is 73 percent Malbec and 20 Merlot and the rest Tannat and a drop of Gamay.

Yves also gave me a serious lesson in the history of Cahors as the Jouffreau family had been in the area since 1190 and making wine since 1590 under their name. The history of the family is the history of Cahors. History buffs will know Cahors was the best known red wine of France from the middle ages through the mid-1800's when it started to get more competition from the Brit-money influenced Bordelais wines and the Napoleon-famed Burgundian wines. Phyloxera killed off Cahors utterly and many growers went to other countries. Many from Cahors went to Spain, a few Argentina. The Jouffreau patriarch joined the army in time for the Franco-Prussian war. After the war he returned and helped his brother get them started up again. We tasted through 4 different cuvees in some years. The others being an old vine cuvee culled from the Gamot (very concentrated and old-vine intense, buy it if you ever see it) and a single vineyard wine also made at Gamot called Clos St. Jean, named for the founding father of the modern estate. The wine wonderfully spicy, soft but great deep, plush fruit. Comparitively not very tannic. I was struck by the vintage character showing through the wines as well as the consistent character of the sites showing through the wines. 2005 will be a super year, every bit 1985 again, best recent vintage. 04 solid and classic. 03 the cooked fruit freak show one expects. 02 a little closed, for aging as is 01, but 01 is a bit richer. 00 lovely broad wines, 5 more years to hit their plateau of maturity. 99 lighter, drink now or forget. 98 is what you expect 04 to become. Older wines were a fabulous truffle-scented, rich 88 Gamot that still has loads of fruit and tannin left and an 82 Cayrou was very rich, opulent and a little vulgar in a good way. We then headed off to Payssac for a quick lunch of stuffed pig's foot, some Cabecou and a long discussion of what is wrong with the French economic system. Coffee was Yves trip to the States in 1979 on a Greyhound bus.

SUNDAY, March 26th

After a breakneck drive from St. Jean de Luz on the Atlantic, 10km from Spain to Puy l'Eveque, just west of Cahors I walk into a very strange but nice film. After one 15th century building after another, I come open my Hostellerie Clos de Loup. Pretty and organized outside, it's a bit nicer than where I have been staying. Inside it's all white, cream and pink stone. I walk into a cross between Santa Claus and Jerry Garcia singing French folk songs to the 15 lunch guests. It's a little wacky, but very charming. Madame is very welcoming, tells Chef I am hungry after my drive and all I have to do is pick my Cahors and tap my foot. This guy is pretty good. He’s got voice a bit like Burl Ives singing about love and death in flamboyent French. When he breaks for his dessert I send him a drink (why not?). I sense enough to let Madame choose her favorite Cahors from the producers I don't know on the list.

The wine is excellent right now. She knows what she's doing. 2000 vintage "Quintessance" from Chateau Les Regelets.

First plate: Foie Gras au Torchon avec Gros Sel and Brioche de la Maison. Simple, rich, refined, very, very good Torchon. Foie Gras always has it's best texture with this method. Fig chutney is good, but I don't like sweet garnishes with my cold foie gras. Sue me if you want, but it kills any dry red you ever have with it.

Burl is getting his butt kicked by that Armagnac. It was a little big. He drank it very fast. Now it's political songs. Great, I'm the sole Yank here. He's going to incite the various octogenarians in the room to set my car on fire. Gotta keep my head on a swivel...

The rest of lunch is uneventful. My plate of Quercy (local) lamb arrives. Good flavor. Cooked a little bit more than I want it to have been. I always ask for dishes to be cooked to the Chef's taste in order to understand the Chef. The sweetbreads are good, but not with the same flavor as yesterday's. I chat with the Chef for a bit when he comes to my table and he sits to have a glass of Madame's favorite wine. I learn that he is from Sicily where after we do a strange thing and mix Italian and French and trade pasta recipes. He tells me that the local green asparagus is great right now. I tell him that I want him to just feed me tonight. I am glad not to be leaving here so fast. It's Sunday, maybe I'll have a siesta.

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After a siesta and a good walk (dry country, here, like a drier version of the Morvan plateau near Burgundy) I head to dinner in my little hotel. At lunch I had asked Chef for a menu with whatever is in season. I start with a white from Lot AOC that's 100% Chardonnay from an estate owned by the Prince of Denmark. It tastes a whole lot like a chard from the Santa Cruz mountains in California right down to it's acid profile and the oak. This will fail completely with Asparagus. I am stressed anticipating it!

Not spa food here. Amuse Bouche are roasted figs wrapped in caramelized bacon and bayonne ham. Alright. German whisperers are the most dramatic, loudest and far and away the most irratating. Wine good, good, calm, calm.

First plate is showing Chef's Sicilian roots: marinated blue fin tuna with fennel seed with a salad of sweet sicilian cherry tomatoes, opal basil, mizuna, zucchini, farfalle pasta and a tart red wine vinaigrette. Nice to get these tomatoes now. Actually the Chardonnay is not at all bad with this. I guess the wood helps. The weight is correct. I will be persecuted by wine intellectuals everywhere for saying that this works. That's the problem with theories! They are never specific enough. Information and instinct always serve better with matching dishes and wine than rules.

The Germans are spitting back and forth about dessert. They seem excited but as yet no one has pounded their fist on the table. Chef will probably make it to tomorrow!

Next plate is a two in one sort of dish. Asparagus risotto garnished with very fresh small langoustine tails. I eat shellfish first. Superb with the wine. Then risotto...oh my god is this rich. Oozing butter and cheese. Great flavor though. Exercise tomorrow, check. If you are going to have asparagus with oak-aged chardonnay this is how the wine is just a fresh counterpoint and not cutting. Not a wine I'd recommend for asparagus without a mountain of dairy and starch.

I spent a long time discussing business with Madame. She said business is tough now, has been for a while. The new clientele are all from other countries. Last summer was a short season and the winter was tough. She wonders if the socialist system is choking them. She says it's tougher in Germany where they moved from after ‘96 when it got so tough there. It's hard to think of this little place as struggling. It's such a gem and they are so nice and quality-oriented.

Lastly a plate of the first local strawberries with crumbled ammaretti cookies. Simple, light, nice. It's nice to taste the season in advance of ours.