Cahors Julien Ilbert is a young, charismatic vigneron with a fresh perspective on his native Cahors. Vines have been in the Ilbert family for generations, though grapes had always been sold to the local cave coopérative. In 1998, Julien decided to break off and start his own estate. Things didn’t exactly go according to plan, and a chance meeting with Mathieu Cosse at a rugby match quickly led to a seven year relationship, with Julien being Mathieu’s main source for high quality Auxerrois (aka Malbec, aka Côt).
The estate is certified organic as of the 2015 vintage, but chemicals have not touched the vineyards for quite some time. The wines have also evolved in the decade since Julien launched his own estate, culminating in what we now get to enjoy in our glasses. Macerations are kept short for the region and a large percentage of whole-clusters are incorporated into the vinification. The use of wood is judicious and always from older barrels to avoid marking the wine’s flavor and structure. The wines are never fined or filtered and SO2 is used at very low doses.
- Cahors ‘Le Pur Fruit du Causse’
- Cahors ‘Château Combel La Serre’
- Cahors ‘Au Cerisier’