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Vine Connections | Wine | Cahors| Domaine du Theron
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Cahors is one of France’s most beautiful regions and a top food destination (particularly for foie gras), as well as a favorite second home to several French presidents. It is also one of France’s most ancient winegrowing regions, and its wines were heralded for their quality by Popes, Czars, and royalty throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, yet it only received AOC recognition in 1971. Cahors wines were traditionally reserved for military officers while the troops were relegated to drinking Bordeaux wines. Cahors’ fall from the limelight over time was a result of several factors:
- A Bordeaux wine trade that historically controlled the navigation channels for distribution, and who taxed and boycotted Cahors’ wines in order to give their own an advantage
- In the late 1800’s, phylloxera wiped out a large part of the region
- In 1956, a massive freeze destroyed most of the planted vineyards, reducing the region’s annual crop to 1/10 of its former size
Perhaps the region’s greatest enemy, however, has been its own growers and winemakers. Most winemakers have stuck to their own old ways of making wine, neither communicating with neighbors nor experimenting with new ideas in order to improve quality. Old facilities, dirty oak barrels, and little regard for such things as tannin management have left the region with a reputation for making rustic, off-smelling, astringent wines with little broad appeal. But this is finally changing.
Vic Pauwels could have chosen anywhere in the world to start his winery. Vic is the founder and chairman of the privately-owned Pauwels Group in Belgium, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of electric transformers. After a wide search, Vic fell in love with Cahors and decided to put his love and passion for fine wine to work. He purchased Domaine du Theron in 1997, and immediately did a complete overhaul of the winery, installing state-of-the-art equipment, purchasing the finest oak barrels, reducing crop yields, and hiring the talented fraternal winemaking team of Henri-Jean (winemaker) and Francis (viticulurist) Crassat.
Vic’s plans are broader-reaching than just the development of a Cahors trophy wine. He is a visionary, and his vision for the success of his own winery lies in the upgrading of the wines of the entire appellation. According to Vic, when Cahors becomes widely known as a producer of great wines, then he will have succeeded. He has been a local force in opening lines of communication between winemakers, sharing information on techniques for quality improvement, and has joined in the establishment of a voluntary quality charter that provides help to and incentives for wineries who improve their wines.
The Winery and Its Wines
Domaine du Theron is perched high on a hill above the village of Prayssac, about a 15-minute drive west of the city of Cahors. The domain owns 30 acres of vineyards over six plots, planted primarily to Auxerrois (Malbec) with some Merlot.
Domaine du Theron: a blend of 95% Malbec and 5% Merlot, un-oaked. This wine is a blend of lots from several different terraced vineyards.
Le Theron: 100% Malbec, aged in a selection of medium-toast oak barriques for 12 months This is their top cuvée, produced with grapes from their best vineyard plots on the "third terrace of the Lot".
The 1999 vintage wines are due to arrive in February 2002.
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