Description

Matthieu Cosse and Catherine Maisonneuve are making some outstanding wines in Cahors – very elegant, precise and lifted with a wonderful drinkability. No new oak is used in the ‘elevage’, only old barrels of several wines.

With his experience in the cooperative cellar in the South West of France Matthieu settled on his own with Catherine who was straight out of the famous Chateau Leovillle Las Cases (Bordeaux) and produced their first vintage together in 1999 from a small plot of 5 ha they managed in “fermage”. They are now the owners of 28 ha in Prayssac, near Cahors.

Very quickly they decided to follow biodynamic practices and they set out to make wines that genuinely reflected their place of origin. The vines are spread over 2 different types of soil, and each plot is vinified separately. The first terroir is on clay and limestone (“the plateau”) gives structured wines made with an ageing potential. The second, in Prayssac, in the valley, produces wines that are more fleshy, supple and fruity (“the terraces”). The soils are worked and the vines treated in a homeopathic way. The harvest is done by hand, Mathieu and Catherine carefully sort out the quality of the bunches that will be destemmed. Weather conditions and low yields provide a natural balance (thick skin and little juice). The vinification starts with indigenous yeasts. Vatting is long, with no remontage and filtration is non-existent.