Pod and HOUSE

Mathieu Cosse and Catherine Maisonneuve in Cahors: here are silky and airy wines, precise and digestible! No "100% new wood" either and only barrels of several wines help the slow maturation without marking the wine. Only Les Laquets, the top-of-the-range cuvée, will "undergo" up to 22 months of new oak and one wine.

Biodynamic vineyard work 

With a wealth of experience at the Cocumont cooperative cellar, in the heart of the South-West of France, Mathieu Cosse set up his own business with Catherine Maisonneuve, straight out of the famous Château Léoville Las Casès, and together they produced their first vintage in 1999. Young winemakers, then! From the 5 hectares of farmland they started out with, they now own 17 hectares in Prayssac, not far from Cahors, on the banks of the Lot in the South-West. Very quickly, they decided to work biodynamically, with the result that the yields are small and the wines are very surprising and far from the idea of the Cahors appellation. The vines are spread over two well identified terroirs, each of which is vinified separately.

Two quality terroirs!

The first terroir, on clay-limestone soil, is located in Cournou ("le plateau") and gives structured wines made for ageing. The second, in Prayssac, in the valley, corresponds to more fleshy, supple and fruity wines ("the terraces"). The soils are worked and the vines treated in a homeopathic way. The ripe grapes are picked by hand and, at the sorting table, Mathieu Cosse and Catherine Maisonneuve keep a close eye on the quality of the harvest, which will be destemmed. "There is no need to look for extra tannins on a Grape varietysuch as Malbec!" says Catherine. The weather conditions and the low yields provide a natural balance (thick skin and little juice). The vinification starts with indigenous yeasts. The vatting is long, pumping over is forbidden and filtration is non-existent.