Cahors: Chateau de Gaudou Tradition Red

First cultivated by the Romans, the South West is one of France's largest wine-producing regions, encompassing a vast and varied area to the west of (but not including) Bordeaux. Its local rivers, such as the Garonne and Dordogne, once played an important role in transporting the wines to market, though having to pass through Bordeaux and its protective trade laws left the region long overshadowed by its famous neighbour. Today, the South West is celebrated for its sweet, dry, and sparkling whites and its robust reds, made from an exceptional diversity of local grape varieties rarely found elsewhere. Its varying climates and elevations produce some genuinely distinctive and characterful wines.

An historic red-wine appellation surrounding the city of the same name in South-West France, set along the Lot river and granted AOC status in 1971. Its landlocked, continental climate and varied terroir of limestone plateau and gravelly riverbanks produce deep, concentrated wines from its signature grape, Malbec — known locally as Côt or Auxerrois — which must make up at least 70% of any blend, with Merlot and Tannat permitted in support. Long famed for its inky 'black wine', Cahors offers an earthier, more structured, and elegant expression of Malbec than the riper New World style, showing black and blue fruit, violet, and firm, rustic tannins. Once more considered among the finest in the region, Cahors is firmly back on the map.