Le Cèdre is a 100% Malbec, aged for 24 months in oak barrels (80% new, half of them 500l). One notch up in intensity of flavours and concentration, yet the wine is articulate and balanced. Elegant and fine nose of wild flowers, seeds, anisee, fennel and fleshy black cherry. The palate is densely fruited and silky, dark berries, prune, hints of spices are soon backed by freshness and minerality and are carried through its interminable finish.
“The top treacle-thick cuvée “Le Cèdre”, made from the oldest vines on the estate, “as cypress black as e’er was crow”, sweet, perfumed and plum-pruney. Decant and be awed. This is 100% Malbec from 30-40 year old vines and miserly yields of 30hl/ha. The recipe is exacting: a tri de vendange, destemming, a light pressing, vinification at 30-32 degrees with pigeage and a 40 day cuvaison followed by a 100% malolactic fermentation in new oak barrels. The wine is then aged for twenty months where it acquires its fabulous colour, almost impenetrably dark with glossy purple tints. With its thick cassis aromas and wild raspberry fruit this is a meal in itself and should be eaten with great reverence and a long spoon.” Douglas Wregg
CHÂTEAU DU CÈDRE, Vire sur Lot Biodynamic
Pascal and Jean-Marc Verhaeghe form one of the most passionate, hard-working and skilled team of winegrowers we have ever come across. The work of Jean-Marc consists of growing, biodynamicaly close-to-perfect grapes in the vineyards, while Pascal meticulously transforms these grapes into arguably, the greatest Malbec wines to be found anywhere.
The 27-ha vineyard is planted on 3 parcels, the first consists of calcareous-clay soils, very stony on the surface, the other two are covered with rolled stones and the subsoils are made of layers of sands with trace of iron followed by silica and clay.
Numerous passages are made in the vineyard to ensure the perfect health, quality and ripeness of the grapes, and all the work is carried by hand as, since 1992, no chemicals have been used. The research of quality is pushed so far that almost each vine receives a special attention.
In the winery, Pascal vinifies the harvest in tanks and foudres, the wines are then matured in 225l or 500l barrels. The use of oak is carefully weighted, each vintage requires different actions, the aim is to produce Burgundy-type wines, that reflects both their terroir and their specific vintage.
Over the years, Pascal has made numerous trials and innovations in order to unleash the ultimate potential of Malbec grapes grown on the soils of Cahors, and the last few vintages have brought Château du Cedre up amongst the very best wineries of the World.
Decanter February 2012 ‘Top 10 French Estate for value’