Cahors

Cahors is the original French homeland of Malbec and the source of the historic "black wine" of southwest France: a dark, structured, savoury red from the Lot river valley that is inkier, firmer and more tannic than the plush, fruit-forward Malbec of Argentina. By appellation law it must be at least 70 percent Malbec — known locally as Cot or Auxerrois — and the result is a dense, brooding wine of damson and blackcurrant fruit wrapped in earth, dried herb, graphite and a stony, mineral grip built to age.