2024 Chateau du Cedre - Malbec Cahors L'Improbable (750ml)

Château du Cèdre is run by brothers Pascal and Jean-Marc Verhaeghe, who have spent decades pushing Cahors Malbec toward a fresher, more refined style than the region's traditionally brooding reputation. The estate farms twenty seven hectares organically, with vines planted on limestone plateaux and terraces above the Lot River, sites whose poor soils and elevation bring natural freshness and lift to the grape.

L'Improbable, whose name translates to "the improbable," was created as a lighter, more playful expression of the same high quality Malbec fruit used for the estate's flagship Cahors bottling, drawn from vines averaging more than thirty years old. The grapes are fully destemmed, then pressed and macerated only briefly using a mix of saignée and direct pressing, more akin to white winemaking than a traditional red. The wine is vinified partly in barrel and partly in tank, then aged in older barrels without added sulfur before bottling.

The result is pale in color yet distinctly not a rosé, with an expressive nose of wild strawberry, sour cherry, and cracked peppercorn. On the palate it is light bodied with fine, silky tannins and a bright, juicy stream of forest berry flavors through the finish. It pairs nicely with light poultry, pork, charcuterie, and mushroom dishes.