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Summer 2008

Back to Cahors again for our summer holiday, having discovered the delights of the region over just a couple of days last year. It really is a charming area with lots of oak trees and beautiful countryside and it's not overrun with tourists. The wines are rather pricey though in some cases (we tasted at one estate where the wines started at 19€; the more prestigious cuvée was 48€ and, after we had made appropriately appreciative noises about that wine we were permitted to taste the 84€ top cuvée - they seemed a little surprised when we declined to buy any of that one).

Visits to Lamartine and Cedre were both good though with the former producing some really good wines at sensible prices. Cedre is a little pricier but the wines are astonishingly good so worth it.

On to Madiran briefly - not an area to explore so much, except for the wines. A visit to see Didier Barre at Berthoumieu was very worthwhile. His "Charles de Batz" is my sort of wine - strong, robust, fruity - the only downside being the number of years I am going to have to hold onto it before it is drinking well. It's a 2005 which is a great year but I'm looking forward to the more approachable (and, in many ways, just as good) 2006 vintage. I'll be back.

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