2014 Château Lagrezette Cahors

87% Malbec, 12% Merlot, 1% Tannat. From the 20-ha Landiech vineyard, 20- to 30-year-old estate vines on the clay/limestone second and third terraces of the Lot River in Cahors. Yields 30 hl/ha. Manual selection in vineyard and winery. Following crushing, cold maceration for five days. Alcoholic fermentation begins under a constant temperature of 28 °C. Two to three weeks’ maceration. Malolactic fermentation takes place in new and one-year-old French oak barrels. After 18 months in barrel, the wine is bottled the following June, without clarification or filtering. 75,276 bottles. Very oak-spicy nose, cedar and vanilla pod and sweet, freshly sawn sandalwood. On day one, the palate was massively dominated by the oak – like chewing on new barrel staves. By day two, and with a couple of hours' decanting, there had been a sea change: Dark fruit blossoms through the cedar and cigar spice of the wood, mulberry and liquorice, although dramatic tannins still hold the sweetness back like wrought-iron holdbacks. Lots of dark spice. Exciting but it throws down the gauntlet. This is a wine that really  needs decanting. (TC)