Château Pineraie Cahors Tradition is a robust AOP Cahors offering an elegant flavour profile of intense cherry fruit, blackcurrant and spicy oak. Refined tannins and smooth acidity provide perfect balance and complexity, making it an ideal accompaniment to red meats and mature hard cheeses.

Critic Review

Decanter Magazine: 88Pts (2016 vintage)
Drinking Window: 2020 - 2023

"Ripe, bramble fruit on the nose. On the palate it's bright with spritzy strawberry fizzing on the tongue and marked acidity underpinned by oak and spice. It's slightly sweet with overt fruit but when that fades quite quickly you're left with a spicy oak flavour on the tongue which feels a bit flat. It perhaps needs more time to soften."
Georgina Hindle

About the Producer

Cahors has been an established winemaking area for centuries and a Latin manuscript from 1456 shows that the Burc family were already land owners around Cahors at that time. 5th generation vigneron Jean-Luc Burc now shares the running of this 50 hectare estate near Puy-L'Évèque with his daughters, Anne and Emmanuelle. They produce individual and characterful wines from their various vineyard parcels which encompass all of the classic terroirs of the region, both on the renowned terraces of the Lot and upon the limestone plateau above. The estate's old vines are carefully managed according to the principles of lutte raisonneé.

Vineyard and Winery

The estate comprises of 37 hectares which contains the various soil types that make up the Cahors. On the terraces of the Lot, the vineyard is made of subsoil composed of old alluvium and limestone plateau with clay and marl. Composed of 85% of Auxerrois and 15% of Merlot, the vine stocks of the Pineraie are on the 2nd and 3rd terraces and on the limestone plateau. A dozen hectares are located on the commune of Lacapelle Cabannac. The lower parts of the vineyard are clay while the higher parts are clay, limestone and hard flint. Quality control is a major factor to production, with low yielding limits applied to each patch to help produce ripe, healthy grapes whilst maintaining a good balance with the land. Pesticides are only applied according to a weekly statistical parasite count and weather forecast. The vines, including some very old Malbec, are planted in clay-limestone soil which helps to keep yields naturally low (productivity is approximately 4.500 litres per hectare). Chateau Pineraie is made of 85% Côt (Malbec) and 15% Merlot with the grapes being hand sorted according to very strict specifications. Fermentation is controlled to 30 degrees with maceration on the skins from 2 - 3 weeks, including frequent pumping over and aeration. The wine is then aged for one year in oak barrels, 20% of which are new barrels. It's only lightly filtered before bottling to preserve fruit quality and character.