Combel La Serre "Pur Fruit du Causse" Cahors

This winery, run by Jean-Pierre & Julien Ilbert, is located 15 kilometers from Cahors, on the slopes of Cournou and Rassiels. Until 2001 they mostly sold their fruit to the local co-op, and then for 7 years had a contract with Matthieu Cosse at Cosse Maisonneuve.  During the first few years of this arrangement, they continued to be a polyculture farm, but in 2005 they began to focus on viticulture and started bottling and selling their wines independently. 

In 2012 they began converting to organic viticulture, and were certified at end of 2013.  They currently have 26 hectares, planted at a density of 4,500 vines per hectare; the clay and limestone soil imparts both complexity and finesse. 

100% Malbec (known in Cahors as Auxerrois). Combel's "entry-level" wine is Vinified and aged in cement vats. Fresh, bright-purple-fruited, mouth-filling but with relatively soft tannins: a quaffer by sturdy, rustic Cahors standards.