Philippe Bernède Château La Grave Cahors 2023, an organic Malbec from Cahors, France, showcasing a full-bodied red wine

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Philippe Bernede

Philippe Bernède Château La Grave Cahors 2023

Name: Philippe Bernède Château La Grave Cahors 2023
Brand: Philippe Bernede
SKU: BERNEDE-LAGRAVE
Price: 28.00 USD
Availability: InStock

$28.00

Style: Dry, full-bodied red; inky and structured with firm tannins, dark fruit, earthy character, and the dense concentration typical of Lot Valley Malbec
Grapes & Terroir: 100% Malbec (Cot); organically grown; alluvial gravel and clay soils on the second terrace of the Lot River valley, Cahors AOC, Lot department, Southwest France
Winemaking: Fermented in stainless steel; aged one year in large wooden vats; no Merlot or Tannat addition; organically farmed
Serving temperature & decanting: Serve at 61-64°F; decant 30-45 minutes; can cellar 5-10 years
Pairing: Confit de canard
Similar to: Clos La Coutale Cahors, structured Argentine Malbec from Mendoza, Pécharmant

Philippe Bernède Château La Grave Cahors 2023 is a dry red wine made by Philippe Bernède at Château La Grave, a property he acquired near his family's long-established estate Clos La Coutale in the Cahors AOC of Southwest France. Unlike most Cahors producers, who blend Malbec with Merlot or Tannat, Philippe Bernède's Château La Grave stands out as it is 100% Malbec, fermented in stainless steel and aged one year in large wooden vats. The grapes are organically grown. Philippe Bernède Château La Grave Cahors 2023 is bottled under AOC Cahors as a structured, terroir-driven red built for both current drinking and short to medium-term cellaring.

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East Coast: 5 business days

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Philippe Bernède Château La Grave Cahors 2023

$28.00

Producer profile

Philippe Bernede

Philippe Bernède comes from one of the most established winemaking families in Cahors. His base of operations is Clos La Coutale, a family estate whose wine has been on the list of Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant in Berkeley for more than thirty years, making it one of the longest-running French relationships in that importer's catalog. Clos La Coutale produces a Malbec-dominant blend in a style built for consistent, affordable enjoyment: inky, earthy, and reliably characterful. It has become a reference point for what Cahors does at its most accessible.

Château La Grave was a subsequent acquisition, a neighboring property that Philippe added to his holdings with a specific aim: to produce a 100% Malbec Cahors, something relatively rare in an appellation that has historically leaned on Merlot and Tannat to soften the variety's naturally firm tannins. The decision reflects both a philosophical position on Malbec's expressive potential in the Lot Valley and a practical understanding of what distinguishes Château La Grave's terroir from Clos La Coutale's: different soils, different exposures, and a different set of vine characteristics that make the 100% varietal approach viable.

Farming across both estates is organic. Philippe's family has been growing vines in the Southwest for multiple generations, and the transition away from synthetic inputs reflects both a long-term view of soil health and a practical response to the relatively dry, continental climate of Cahors, which reduces the disease pressure that makes organic viticulture more demanding in wetter French regions.

In the cellar, Château La Grave is vinified in stainless steel and then aged for one year in large wooden vats, a neutral format that allows the wine to develop texture and integration without adding oak flavor. The result is a Cahors that shows the variety clearly: dark fruit, graphite, iron, and firm tannins that soften with a year or two in the bottle.

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Wine region

Cahors, France

Cahors is an AOC in the Lot department of Southwest France, centered on the medieval town of the same name, roughly 100 miles east of Bordeaux and 60 miles north of Toulouse. The appellation occupies a dramatic landscape carved by the Lot River, whose course through the limestone causses has created a series of steep valley walls and a relatively flat valley floor divided into distinct terraces by thousands of years of river deposit. Most of Cahors' vineyards are planted on these terraces rather than on the causses plateau above, with the highest-quality sites typically on the second and third terraces, where alluvial gravel and clay soils over limestone provide the drainage and mineral substrate the vines need.

The AOC Cahors has a long and occasionally troubled history. Once among the most celebrated wines in France, exported to England as early as the 14th century and famously preferred by the Russian Orthodox Church for communion wine, Cahors was devastated by phylloxera, then frozen out by two severe winters in 1956, and struggled through several decades of overproduction and inconsistent quality before a committed group of producers reasserted the appellation's identity from the 1990s onward. That identity is built entirely on Malbec, known locally as Cot or Auxerrois, which is required to make up at least 70% of any Cahors blend, with Merlot and Tannat permitted for the remainder. Château La Grave's 100% Malbec approach sits at the purist end of that spectrum.

The climate is broadly continental with significant Southwestern French influence: hot summers, cold winters, and enough rainfall in spring and early summer to sustain the vines without irrigation. The high limestone cliffs that frame the Lot River reflect heat onto the valley floor vineyards, accelerating ripeness while the river itself moderates temperatures at night. This combination produces Malbec with the deep color, firm tannins, and earthy, iron-edged character that distinguishes Cahors from the softer, fruit-forward style of Argentine Malbec.

Frequently asked question

When is my order shipping?

We are doing your best to ship your order in 2-3 business days.

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Do I have to sign upon delivery?

Yes, someone 21 years or older must sign for the package.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

What if I miss a delivery?

Worry not, we have options, but please read carefully.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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