So slightly disheartened from my creepy encounter, I moved to the Southwest of France to work at a family run winery in Courbenac, part of Puy L'Eveque- of the Cahors appelation.

Lyon - Cahors: Six hours
Cahors - Puy L'eveque: 1 hour
Puy L'Eveque - Courbenac: a walk

Boring Details
After several confusing conversations on the phone with the mother of the winemaker whom I would soon come to know as Mamilette, I arrived at the home of Philippe, Maryline, Danis, Mamilette and Mamie Rose.

The family home dates back to the 16th century, and though of course their have been some renovations a tower at the center of the 'L' shape remains almost completely intact. Mamilette lives alone in the older wing of the house, leaving P, M, D, MR and a chicken to inhabit the part of the house which overhangs the cave and basement, in which all of the wine is bottled and labeled.
Across from the home is a small structure which houses the tasting room and a large kitchen that, twenty years ago, was used to slaughter and pluck chickens- but is now used to prepare confitures and other jarred goods. Pass through the kitchen, and you'll find yourself surrounded by chickens, a pig named PuPuce and a couple of alarmingly large rabbits for eatin'.

Behind the house is a large vegetable garden, rows of quince, fig, walnut and apple trees, tomatoes and blackberry brambles, a hectare or so of grape vines (an assortment of merlot, tannat, cabernet and malbec and a large black grape whose name escapes me.) To the left, there is a wall of shrubs, a pen full of geese and a large tank of fermenting vinaigre, beyond which is a large (now bare) wheat field lined with chestnut trees. At the base of the field closest to the garden and home, is the largest building on the property: the cave.

The cave is much larger and more modern than that of D.C in Beaujolais, though it is nonetheless at least thirty years behind most wineries you'll find in California. In the first room, there is a large stainless steel (inox) lined tank that rotates on it's side, guided by chains, into which the grapes are pumped upon arrival. Depending on whether P. is making a Cahors, Vin de Pays or Rose, he uses the tank to circulate the wine (in place of pumpovers) or for maceration and then the grapes and juice are pumped into the press or directly into a tank. The remaining three walls are lined with a total of seven cement tanks with small portholes at the top.
In the adjacent room, two walls are lined with oak barrels. Freestanding circular open tanks occupy the other walls, along with several small, newer stainless steel tanks which P. seems to use mostly for grape juice and Rose. He also has a pasturizer, makeshift equiptment for controlling temperature, and an antique press that his father used to use.

The Grapes
A.O.C. Cahors wine can contain Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Tannat, though Phillipe uses 100% Malbec (Cot) for his. Like most french winemakers, P. hasn't had a successful harvest since 2006. Last year was a 'catastrophe!' and this year, early spring rain destroyed the flowers on the vines, resulting in a meager harvest throughout France) but in more abundant years he produces pure Merlot and Cab. Sauvignon, in addition to using the other varieties to make Vin de Pays de Cahors.

Although the grapes approved for use in Cahors differ from those of nearby Bordeaux (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc) the style and techniques of winemaking are similar enough that I feel very fortunate in my little exposure to small wineries in france to have been exposed a bit to Burgundian techniques in Beaujolais, and Bordeauxian ones in Cahors. (It's a bit of a stretch- but at my novice level, I think it's fair!)

Bio
P. Is passionate about producing organic wine- but not in the militantly 'green' way that you might expect. P.'s father made the decision to go organic in the early eighties, because he believed in traditional methods of viticulture and that the end result was finer, more delicious. P. agrees, and has taken the further step of absolutely never using sulfites- a common preservative used in wine and beermaking to keep bacteria in check once fermentation is complete which even most organic producers use. He's firm in the belief that sulfites are unhealthy and on par with chapitalization- the addition of sugar to wine to boost alcohol content or spurr fermentation in wine- to add them is to cheat and cheapen your wine.

When walking through P.'s vineyards, one is immediately struck by how healthy the grapes and vines and rows are. In stark contrast to the weed choked vines of V's in Beaujolais, from which we harvesters emerged fully covered in brambles and spiny little seeds- it's clear that P. is a skilled viticulturalist who values the quality of his grapes above all. He approaches winemaking as a gardener and a botanist, as opposed to as a chemist or a cook- ready to season his wine with sugar, superyeasts, oak chips and sulfites.

And why shouldn't he, when they are the sole ingredient in his wine? The grapes are destemmed and dropped into a tank- and the rest is a miracle of chemistry. The yeasts that grow naturally on the skins of the grapes interact naturally with the natural sugars that concentrate in the grapes, which are picked at the peak of ripeness, and produce as much alcohol for the wine as can mathmatically occur in a given season- though he aims for 12-13%.. He allows fermentation to occur for as long as is necessary for density to reach 900 before barreling the wine, and that's it.
And how's the wine?

We drank this years new wine- not fully fermented and bracingly tannic with chestnuts, a tradition in Cahors. The quality of the wine hasn't seemed to suffer however meager the harvest was- and P. comments daily on how incredibly black the wine is this year. It seems to be the case throughout Cahors, as P. and his winemaking peers babbled excitedly a bout it at the friday market in Prayssac.

In addition to the unforgettably delicious Vin de Noix I already described, the greatest treat of all at D.A was the bottle of 2002 Cuvee Danis that Philippe pulled out on my last night. I enjoyed it so much that he insisted on sending me home with a bottle. Only six years old, it is already supple and rich with currant and berries, soft and spicy flavors and beautifully colored- truly representative of the 'vin noir' that makes Cahors famous. I will be sure to heed his advice and hang on to it for a while before drinking it. Given how little I know about wine and how few bottles I have to my name, I feel really lucky to have such an emotional bond to this particular bottle, to have something to treasure and anticipate.

A footnote: On my first day of work, I was amused when Maryline and Philippe asked me if I liked Robert Parker. I told them that I thought he was full of it- and they told me that apparently he's rated Philipe's wine! They haven't seen the ranking, and I'm looking forward to seeing what he tasted and what he thought...