Louis & Charlotte Pérot - L'Ostal Levant
Puy L’Eveque - Cahors
We were introduced to Louis and Charlotte Pérot by our good friend Simon Busser who makes stunning wines in the nearby commune of Prayssac. Louis was loitering outside a salon in Angers with a bottle of his second vintage. The Pérots left Paris and bought a house and winery at the end of 2015. Having spent some time with Simon learning how to work the soil and understanding the subtleties of Malbec/Côt, they began to make their own wine.
Perched above the Lot outside Puy l'Eveque, where Louis and Charlotte settled, the soils are heavy clay, rich in iron deposits and a sub soil of limestone rock, very different from the sandier soils down by the Lot that Simon has. The bulk of the vineyards are planted around the house, mostly old plantations of Côt. But Louis and Charlotte began planting small amounts of new vineyards in 2016/17 some more Côt but also trials of different varieties. In an experimental spirit have planted white varieties - Loin de L'Oeil, Mauzac and Chenin along with a massal selection of Côt de Touraine, Syrah, Muscat and the hybrid Chamboursin. These are all in small quantities but as the vines get older it will be interesting to see what they can bring from this area dominated by Côt.
The perception of wines from Cahors is that of inky darkness marked by fearsome tannins. But the Pérots manage to make wines that have such a mineral lift to them whilst maintaining the richness of colour and weight of Côt.
