We're going back for a second week of Cahors. Between the three of us there are still plenty of other bottles to review. And, somewhat to our bewilderment, the backlog is starting to pile up again from Malbecs from other countries. This will come as a surprise to absolutely none of the 20 regular readers of this site, but we tend to gravitate toward a name and dig deep into the portfolio. We're doing that again this week. We know full well that there are hundreds of other producers of Cahors Malbec, but our accessibility is somewhat limited by internal and external factors. So in today's review, we are staying in but branching out with a review of a Château de Mercuès Malbec/Merlot blend. We are normally suspicious of anything Malbec blend, especially with Merlot, but trying to keep an open mind here.
Nose: Dark fruit at first but quite quickly a shot of black pepper and dirt hit the nose. From here, things kind of oscillate back and forth between the fruit and earthy elements. With time the dirt and pepper recede and the blackberry comes to the front. Surprisingly not too much Merlot influence that I can trace. Would have expected more.
Palate: Comes in with blackberry showing strong in the lead, with notes of pepper, licorice and minerality pulling up from below. On the second and third sip the pepper definitely pulls through and a little bit of oak influence finally peeks through. By the fourth or fifth sip things settle down and becomes much more approachable. A decent amount of acidity (mild-plus?) and quite a fair bit of tannins.
Finish: Long. Pretty much as advertised on the nose and palate, but with more of a blackberry dominance and some cassis to soften things out by the ending.
Not a bad bottle, but takes quite a bit of time for things to find even footing. Approach with ample time and quite possibly more than one John Martyn album in the queue.