Peachy Canyon Winery is more famous for its Zinfandel than for its Malbec. In 2006, Doug Beckett and his team launched a new brand, Ms Behave, a 100% Malbec wine, with a lovely label.

The (almost) frivolous  label should not hide the hard work behind producing the wine. Peachy Canyon Estate Vineyards are farmed using sustainable practices. The plot where the Malbec is planted is on a rather high altitude and as such helps producing quality vintages. In good years, the winery produces about 300 cases of its Ms Behave brand.

The 2006 vintage was their first one but is already showing very well after about 2 hours of opening. Floral and fruity aromas made a food-friendly wine in California style.

Malbec in California is still a very small and confidential category. Some wine makers are getting interested in this difficult but rewarding grape when their terroir shows aptitude to grow it. This is the case of Dave Corey in his Core winery. Dave makes no mystery of his love for the wines of South western France: he's an admirer of grapes such as Mourvèdre, Grenache and, of course, Malbec.

Dave Corey's main vineyard is located in eastern Santa Barbara County in the Cuyama Valley. Alta Mesa Vineyard sits perched above Santa Barbara Highlands Vineyard at 3200 feet in elevation.  Directly southwest of the vineyard is a close look of Cuyama Peak at 5300 feet in elevation, a feature of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range and part of the Los Padres National Forest. The high altitude of his vineyard is one of the reasons for the adaptation of the Malbec grape. Like in Cahors where the best Malbecs come from the highest vineyards, Dave's Malbec thrives in Alta Mesa.

Dave's Malbec is part of his Turchi brand. It is 95% Malbec with 5% Merlot. His 2007 Turchi Malbec, "Block I", Santa Barbara Highlands is aged in 50% new Hungarian oak, 50% one year old Hungarian oak for 16 months in barrel. Unfortunately, Dave produces usually around 100 cases of his delicious Malbec: a small but outstanding production.

Blogger Fran Golden spent a few days in the Cahors area, the Malbec birthplace. She had a room at the beautiful Château de Mercuès from where she toured the region. Discover her fairy tale travel and her tastings in her blog!

Several centuries after the decline of the Cahors wines, hedonists are rediscovering a taste for dense and complex wines with elegance and finesse, without so much concentration. Only a handful of varieties can conciliate an inky color with harmonious flavors. The Malbec, symbol of the Lot valley, figures among the rare types of wine producing a real black wine. Cahors is the first appellation to make this fact official.

How would one pair this dark and dense wine with food? First, it needs to be decanted, especially when young and still tannic. Then choose your food: cassoulet and duck, of course but also a loin of lamb from a Quercy farm, a sweet and sour dish, Provence cuisine. Foie gras suits it to a tee.

Those qualities have not gone unnoticed by the local chefs who have defended Cahors wine for many years. Won over by this new title, they were the first ones to add the Black Wine range to their wine lists. The good news spread: the Paris area restaurants also put it on their list. Olivier Poussier, 2000 World Sommelier, became the ambassador of the Cahors wine during the 2007 Vinexpo.

Cahors is back! Malbec is black!

In the Middle Ages when cork was unknown, the wines were transported in barrels and could scarcely resist the tests of time. They all ended their journey oxidised and sour, to the extent that water had to be added to make them drinkable. All with the noticeable exception of Cahors wines: they were endowed with a fabulous quality. They did not age and retained intact the freshness of their aromas despite chaotic sea travels. Shrewd traders from the Gironde rapidly understood what this elixir could earn them. Rather than sell Cahors wine for its own sake, they used it to improve their own wine!

Cahors wine was as strong as a liqueur but mild as velvet. At this time, when the Gironde was still only marshes, its vines were producing clear juice, too light to resist the rigors of a long journey. Cahors wine arrived at the right moment to strengthen their weak aspect and enable them to travel without too much damage. The English, with their discerning palates, were quick to discover the value of this wine. That's how the Black Wine entered into the court of this world's great wines. In the 18th century, the advent of the bottle, cork and sulphur, as well as the improvement in viticulture in the Bordeaux area, put an end to the Black Wine saga so dear to the English. It made way for clear wines, light and cool to the palate, which new techniques allowed to be preserved. Cahors wine still kept its fine reputation, but not its status as a Bordeaux medicinal wine.

Despite the phylloxera disaster, the local wine industry was kept in place. But the hybrids used produced only pale copies of the original wines. In 1947, some vintners decided to found the Parnac cooperative winery. Their objective was to restore the Malbec variety, the grape originally used to produce the Cahors black wine. They ended up acquiring seedlings from an estate grower in Bordeaux. The current vineyards originates from these plants.

Unfortunately, in 1956, the frost ruined once again many wine growers from the area. But none of them despaired and all got quickly back to work. The Cahors Wine Brotherhood was created in 1964. In 1971, the Cahors Black Wine was promoted to Controlled Appellation. At the moment, some 4,500 ha can produce Controlled Appellation Cahors wines.