There were just 7 wines on our first ALLEZ VINS! wine list in 1987, one of which was Cahors AC Chateau St Didier-Parnac 1985. So it was a surprise that some old friends of ours had discovered one of those very bottles in their cellar but also with some trepidation that I opened it. The label looked suitably aged, but to be fair to my friends they are not great wine buffs, and there was little likelihood that the bottle had been kept in the best of conditions for 20 years. The cork was inevitably a tad aged but did at least come out in one piece (very slowly) and the nose, whilst not powerful, was at least not pungent. The colour was surprisingly red rather than brown (a good sign) and careful decanting avoided the worst of the sediment.
The wine was perfectly drinkable, but somehow like visiting an ageing relative you've not seen for 20 years, it was a bit frail and lacking in some rounded robustness. The fruit character remained but the complexity and depth of the tannins was missing.
Now I have always claimed that Cahors wines improve with some ageing - but in truth it is not often that I get the chance to try something like this at that sort of age. Especially as this is not the Chateau's top cuvée (which at the time was the Prieuré de Cenac) although 1985 was a good year. So although I would not recommend keeping such a wine for 20 or more years, it does give some confidence to the recommendation that well-made Cahors should be good for 10-15 years from a decent vintage. Always check with your wine merchant or the chateau.
The other wines on our early list were a Vin de Pays des Coteaux du Quercy (now a VDQS from the area between Cahors and Montauban); a couple of Alsace wines from Emile Boeckel at Mittelbergheim and some Beaujolais from Paul Beaudet. Quite fascinating that the Languedoc did not feature for some years, whereas I would expect it to be amongst the early choices if we were to start again!
As for Chateau St Didier-Parnac, this was really where Allez Vins! started - as wines such as Cahors, Cotes de Duras, Coteaux du Quercy etc were seldom seen in the UK in the 1980s. The Rigal brothers owned this and other domaines in some of the best parts of the vineyard at Parnac, in the Lot Valley west of Cahors.
Since the 1970s, Franck and Jacques RIGAL have been building up the family business by concentrating on the 135 hectares (310 acres) of their three great châteaux: Prieuré de Cénac, Saint Didier Parnac and Grézels.
Their blend of 70% Malbec (also known locally as Auxerrois or Cot) and 30% Merlot with some barrel ageing produces a wine which retains it typicity whilst being quite approachable.
Now part of the huge JeanJean group since 2003, they remain one of the best Cahors producers.
In the UK Chateau St Didier-Parnac, Cahors AC (2003) is stocked by AVA wines in Northern Ireland (interesting, well-chosen list) and Whitebridge Wines (2001 vintage) in Staffordshire.
LINKS:-
Chateau Saint Didie-Parnac
RECOMMENDED READING:-
Paul Strang's Wines of South-west France
Stephanie Alexander's Cooking and Travelling in South-West France
Andrew Jefford's The New France: A Complete Guide to Contemporary French Wine (Mitchell Beazley Wine Guides)
