Château du Cèdre - Cahors Le Cèdre 2020

Bettane & Desseauve

About the estate:

Pascal and Jean-Marc Verhaegue run this estate at the top of Cahors, thanks to demanding viticulture and precise winemaking techniques. The 27 hectares (including 25 of reds) are divided into three small areas on two of the appellation's best soil types, notably the famous third terrace. One is clay-limestone and produces wines of great finesse. The other is a soil of pebbles mixed with reddish sand, which is conducive to more powerful wines.

Guide Hachette des vins

About wine:

Still maturing (two years of aging), this cuvée offers a toasty, spicy nose, followed by a solidly structured, full-bodied palate. Definitely one to cellar.

Robert Parker - Wine Advocate

About wine:

Austere in character, the 2020 Cèdre reveals a deep, dark bouquet of licorice, oak, dark berries, and cedar. Full-bodied, sappy, and dense, it has a fleshy fruit core, structured tannins, and a long but firm finish. The vintage is very present in this wine, which will benefit from a little time to soften and fully integrate its powerful elements.

RVF - La Revue du Vin de France / Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France

About wine:

The 2020 Cèdre is bold and powerful with a spicy and complex body; the texture reveals a Malbec of great precision, at ideal maturity, aged in sulfite-free oak barrels until bottling.

About the estate:

For more than fifteen years, the Verhaeghe brothers, Pascal in charge of winemaking and Jean-Marc in charge of the vineyard, and now Jules, Pascal's son, have made Le Cèdre the benchmark for the appellation. It must be said that they benefit from an exceptional terroir: on the one hand, a particularly stony and constantly shifting cone of limestone scree, the famous "tran," which produces fine, elegant wines; on the other hand, a soil of pebbles on ferruginous sand, which gives the wines more power. Made from ideally ripe and selected grapes, the cuvées, which are always very colorful, achieve a rare level of quality and consistency thanks to refined tannins and velvety textures. The Extra-Libre cuvées offer the entire range without sulfur.

Wine Enthusiast

About wine:

Produced from one of the largest estates in Cahors, this wine expresses an abundance of black fruits and prunes. It is a fine, balanced wine with structured tannins and intense potential. The wine will be ready from 2026. Organic.

James Suckling

About wine:

Attractive nose of black cherry, boysenberry, and aromatic herbs with a hint of black earth and white pepper. The palate is quite tight, with medium to full body and fine tannins. Lively and taut on the mid-palate, it offers crisp blueberries and a savory finish. Made from organically grown grapes. Ready to drink now, but can be cellared.