Cahors, Malbec: an exceptional vineyard

Wine tourism is developing from year to year with Cahors AOP wine (red) and AOC Coteaux du Quercy wines (red and rosé).

Spread over 45 municipalities, the vineyard now covers 4200 hectares, 80% of which extends into the Lot and Vineyard Valley, from Parnac to Soturac, and on the limestone plateaus. It benefits from an exceptional climate and very beautiful back seasons.

The history of the millennial vineyard of Cahors

In the XNUMXst century, the entry of the Roman legions into Quercy and the creation of the town of Divona Cadurcorum gave impetus to the creation of a vineyard. From the XNUMXth century, the wines of Cahors, highly appreciated across the Channel, were massively exported to the port of Bordeaux and then to Northern Europe.

From this date, the notoriety of the wines of Cahors will not cease to increase and during the following centuries, the wines of Cahors gained their letters of nobility in the Americas, in Germany, in Holland and especially in Russia where the tsars adopted it as ceremonial wine and the Orthodox Church as liturgical wine.

Unfortunately, around 1880, phylloxera destroyed almost all of the vineyard while the Malbec grape variety took the direction of Argentina for the creation of the Mendoza vineyard, at the foot of the Andes.

At the end of the Second World War, some winegrowers decided to unite to relaunch the Cahors vineyard by creating in 1947, the cooperative cellar of the coasts of Olt.

Their desire to pursue a policy of qualitative production was consecrated in 1971 by obtaining the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée.

Vinoltis

A playful and tasty passport for the vineyards of Cahors and the Lot Valley!

Tourist information office and space for interpreting the Cahors vineyard, Vinoltis is a real gateway to the vineyards and the Lot valley. It is divided into 3 scenographic spaces intended for you to discover, in a playful and in-depth way, all that the vineyard embodies for this territory: the people, the terroir, the vine, the trades, the landscapes, the history, the aromas… the Cahors vineyard will have no more secrets for you.

Tastings

The place also invites you to live experiences around wine: listen, smell, watch and taste. For the tasting, 2 approaches Free are offered to you:

• La autonomous tasting, with state-of-the-art vending machines, which retain the flavor of the wine. Accessible daily from May to October, on the opening hours of the tourist office → Simply ask your travel advisors for your card and your glass to access the precious nectar ; 
• La tasting with winemakers who each come in turn to transmit and share their passion. 2022 dates to come → Possibility to buy wine directly from winegrowers.

The vineyard interpretation area

This modern, functional and innovative equipment is the symbol of the will of the Community of Commune Lot-Vignoble, contracting authority of this project, to offer the Cahors-Vallée du Lot Tourist Office and the winegrowers a tool for exception in the service of tourism and more particularly wine tourism.

Presentation of the scenography: 

• Au rez-de-chaussée, a table including several workshops, leads you to discover the Lot valley, the terroirs and landscapes, the aromas, the gestures of the vine, the food and wine pairings. This interpretation platform offers interactive mini-workshops. Next door, take a seat in the large reproduction of a Cahors glass to listen to testimonials from winegrowers recounting their passion;
• Au ground floor, take a seat in the second reproduction of a glass of Cahors where Eric Filipiak, oenologist, will pass on his knowledge of tasting to you. Also discover the promotional film for the destination and the vineyard and find the two “Enomatiques” for the free tastings wine in autonomy (from May to October);
• In the garden, through the vines, continue your visit with fun workshops around geology, landscapes and the vegetative stages of the vine.

In Cahors, a space for discovering wine and vineyards