The Cahors Renaissance with winemaker Catherine Maisonneuve

Tucked away in the southwest of France you’ll find Cahors; a region with a dramatic past, and arguably an even more extraordinary future.

The ‘black wines’ of Cahors once sat on the tables of the English crown, the Russian tsars and the Vatican before a steady decline marked by war, phylloxera and the fickle tide of fashion conspired to push Cahors to the margins. Now, a renaissance is underway….

Chief among the drivers of the movement is Parisienne winemaker Catherine Maisonneuve. Catherine honed her craft at one of the great Bordeaux estates, Château Léoville Las Cases in Saint-Julien. Keen to follow her own path, however, she searched with her partner Mattieu Cosse for a terroir to build something of their own. Eventually, she homed in on the magnificent clay-limestone plateaus and hillside slopes of Cahors, which she felt offered the same promise as any other great French wine region.

The pair established Domaine Cosse Maisonneuve in 1999 with a small holding of Malbec vines which they have since grown to 25 hectares, all biodynamically farmed. Today, the domaine is one of the region’s benchmark producers. 

In this intimate masterclass, we will begin with two outliers – a Chardonnay drawn from a small parcel, and Carmenet, a Cabernet Franc interloper. From there we ascend through the hierarchy of Domaine Cosse Maisonneuve Malbec; from Solis, the baby of the range, through the concentrated precision of La Fage and the structured depth of Les Laquets to La Marguerite – the estate's prestige cuvée, drawn from a 2.5-hectare parcel on the famously poor siderolithic terroir.

We invite Members to come and meet one of the most talented vignerons working in France today and taste a range of cuvées that redefine Cahors and Malbec’s place in the wine world. 

The wines we will be tasting:

2024 Domaine Cosse Maisonneuve, Les Hauts de Bonaguil Peyrié Nord, Vin de France
2017 Domaine Cosse Maisonneuve, Carmenet, Vin de France
2022 Domaine Cosse Maisonneuve, Carmenet, Vin de France 
2021 Domaine Cosse Maisonneuve, Solis, AOC Cahors
2022 Domaine Cosse Maisonneuve, La Fage, AOC Cahors
2020 Domaine Cosse Maisonneuve, La Fage, AOC Cahors
2020 Domaine Cosse Maisonneuve, Laquets, AOC Cahors
2022 Domaine Cosse Maisonneuve, Marguerite, AOC Cahors

Tuesday 25th August
Claret Club 
77 Stanley Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney 2010
18:00 — Welcome drink and canapés on arrival
18:30 — Masterclass and tasting begins
20:00 — Masterclass ends
20:30 — Event ends

Member Tickets: $205 per person
Non-Member Tickets: $255 per person

Menu items are subject to change; we will notify you should there be any replacements.

General Notes
67 Pall Mall Melbourne reserves the right to amend the Terms and Conditions without prior notice. Ticket holders are advised to check the event page for the latest updates. Cancellations made within four days of the event are unfortunately not eligible for a refund. In the event the cancelled ticket can be reallocated/ reissued to waitlisted Member, a refund may be issued at the Club’s discretion.

• The Club reserves the right to postpone or cancel an event due to insufficient attendance, forces of nature, accidents or emergencies. In such cases, we will either refund the full cost of the course, or arrange an alternative date.
• If any substitutions become necessary, we will ensure the value and quality of the replacements are equivalent.
• All Members and guests are required to maintain an appropriate standard of dress. As a rule of thumb, smart casual dress code applies, unless otherwise specified by the event.
• The legal drinking age is 18 years old in accordance with the NSW law.

Other Notes

• On the rare occasions when the speakers become unavailable, we will endeavour to reschedule the event. However, if there is less than 72 hours notice, we will in most cases proceed as planned.
• Please note that masterclass tastings do not include a meal.