Ostal Levant
Ostal Levant is the excellent young domaine of Louis and Charlotte Perot, who live and make wine on the calcareous plateau high above the Lot River in the historic region of Cahors.
Louis and Charlotte moved with their young family to the south-west back in 2012. They'd both been working in publishing and literature in Paris and over time became desperate for a rural change. So, Louis enrolled in oenology in Burgundy, completed the course and south they went.
They discovered and purchased a beautifully isolated, ancient farm with totally dilapidated buildings in a lieu-dit called Alary, high in the terraces above the river. Immediately, but slowly, they began to renovate the buildings for themselves and guests to stay in. They planted vines (chenin, mauzac, loin de l'oeil, pinot noir, cabernet franc, malbec and lots of hybrids) in addition to the vineyards they leased and today this farm is a true oasis — a culmination of nearly a decade of hard work, beautiful farming and joie de vivre. This is a charming young family who love good music, good food, hosting guests and farming well.
These sites are geologically amazing. You find clay of course, but a very curious vein of fine sand and also limestone populates these sites. It really is quite amazing country and it's obvious why this was formerly such celebrated terroir. It simply makes sense to grow grapes here.
As an extension of the home vineyard, Louis and Charlotte have leased several other very small parcels since they moved to Cahors near the villages of Duravel and Prayssac.
The basis of the quality here comes from low yields and great farming. Both former literary professionals, Louis and Charlotte are obsessed with very old texts about farming, grape growing and vinification and much of their work is influenced by methods that were common hundreds of years ago.
Further, they've been aided greatly by their very good friend Simon Busser who remains a real mentor in the world of organic farming in Cahors.
In the winery, the majority of the red wines are destemmed, fermented in stainless and then run to barrel for elevage. Significantly, elevage takes place in a quite amazing limestone cave deep in the side of a hill near Alary. There are several of these caves in the area, all with very low ceilings and heavy humidity, despite the very cool air. This gives the L'Ostal wines an extra level of primary tannin and fruit and also purity. And thanks to the nature of the malbec, the primary fruit is always offset by minerality and a very pleasing level of varietal austerity — one of our favourite qualities of malbec grown in Cahors. All of this, carried by naturally abundant acidity, lends a very distinctive house style to the domaine.
Cahors, France
Information on previous wines
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Malbec from a parcel in Prayssac right beside Simon Busser’s vineyard, planted in 1990, with a top layer of alluvial soil giving way to a limestone base
2020 From an excellent year with great concentration and freshness
2019 Complex, with a dark shade of fruit.
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Old-vine malbec grown on the home vineyard in Puy l'Évêque, planted in 1960 and 1977 on calcereous soil
2021 From an excellent, low-yielding year with great concentration and freshness.
2020 From an excellent, low-yielding year with great concentration and freshness.
2019 Dark and complex fruit, with perfectly balanced acidity.
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Destemmed malbec from the Le Tour vineyard in Duravel, planted in 1980 over sand and Upper Jurassic calcareous matter
2021 From a tricky but high-quality vintage which produced wines with thrilling perfume and acidity. Classical, fresh and gourmand.
2020 Destemmed and fermented in tank before being pressed to old barrels for 10 months elevage in a limestone cave. Light to medium bodied with a very fine texture and a well-balanced mix of fruit, minerality and earth.
2019 In 2019, Louis and Charlotte decided to split the yield from this site and bottle two wines. Zamble was fermented and raised in tank and bottled early and this cuvee, Fioretti, was destemmed, raised in barrel and bottled after nine months. Dark but very fresh, energetic and buoyant, with fine texture and earth and mineral aromas.
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From a parcel planted in Duravel in 1979, with a higher clay content
2020 From a high quality year, with excellent concentration and freshness.
2019 A lighter, more red shade of fruit, and a little more crisp in structure, than the rest of the 2019 wines.
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Malbec grown by Louis and Charlotte’s friend Marie Bessieres in Grezels, on a vineyard which is largely alluvial with sections of clay and calcareous soil. The parcel is the oldest certified organic vineyard in Cahors (since 1983) and chemicals have never been used
2019 From an excellent year. Vinified in tank with a high proportion of whole berries. The aromatic profile is composed and focussed, the palate light to medium bodied and the tannic structure ultra-fine. A dark shade of fruit but with lots of nerve and freshness.
2016 From a warmer year.
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Malbec from a vineyard in Duravel planted in 1980
2018 Gourmand and glossy, with added dimension from a slightly warmer year. Various shades of light and dark fruit, with a svelte and polished texture.
2016 From a warmer year.
2014/2018 A blend of fresh, medium-bodied, vertical and nervy fruit from 2014 with the slightly more plump and sweet fruit of 2018 from the same site. Deep and complex, with various shades of primary and tertiary fruit.
2014 From a cool year producing fresh, vertical and nervy wines.
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2021 From a tricky but high-quality vintage which produced wines with thrilling perfume and acidity. In 2021, this is made up of the 12 varieties planted at the home vineyard – old and young vine vinifera and hybrids and both red and white varieties. Chenin blanc, mauzac, pinot noir, cabernet franc, malbec and hybrids all play a role. Highly aromatic and with a sappy, lightly structured palate. Fresh, correct and nervy. 10.5% ABV.
2020 Malbec with carbonic maceration. Early picked with gentle extraction and short elevage. Fine, light and taut, resembling in some ways Loire Valley gamay.
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100% malbec from Prayssac
2016 From a warm year.
2015 From an excellent year. Deep and complex, with lots of crunch.
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2016 From a hot year. 100% malbec from Duravel, all whole bunches and foot-stomped.
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2016 Malbec and merlot from a number of different estate and negoce parcels, including the Vendredi site. From a warmer year. Carbonic fermentation was used for a portion of the fruit. Some of the wine was bottled under crown seal and some under cork.
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2015 100% whole bunch merlot.
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Massale-selection malbec grown at Puy l’Eveque using cuttings from Xavier Weisskopf’s vineyard in Touraine. Destemmed, with elevage in barrel
2020 From an excellent, low-yielding year, producing concentrated wines with great freshness.
2019 A slightly warmer year yielding a slightly softer wine than subsequent vintages.
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2017 Malbec from a single site, grown on clay and sand over limestone, which saw 22 months in barrel. Pure and precise, with lots of length and minerality, and suave, resolved tannins.
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From the site that formerly grew Le Tour, which is loam over calcareous sand and clay, planted in the mid 70s
2020 As opposed to the 2019, which was fermented as whole bunches, raised in tank and bottled as a primeur, the 2020 was destemmed for fermentation and raised in barrel. Classical, dark in the glass, medium-bodied and slightly rounder than the 2019 wine, with ripe tannins.
2019 In 2019, Louis and Charlotte decided to split the yield from this site and bottle two wines. Zamble was fermented and raised in tank and bottled early as a primeur. Dark fruited, with earth and lots of freshness.
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2014 Malbec from a single vineyard in Duravel.
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Hybrid varieties – villard noir, villard blanc and chambourcin – of varying vine age, from the home vineyard in Alary
2021 From an excellent year, producing wines with thrilling freshness and perfume.
2020 Moreish sappiness from the hybrids, with a roundness from the vintage. Dark in the glass, medium bodied, pure and correct.
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2021 Negoce syrah made with Simon Busser. Whole bunches fermented in stainless steel, with elevage also in stainless, and a gentle level of extraction. Pale red in the glass, with bright red fruit and some spice and sappiness.
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2020 Destemmed malbec and whole-bunch merlot, with elevage in old barrels. From an open and aromatic vintage with excellent balance and regional freshness.
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Young-vine chenin blanc, mauzac and loin de l’oeil . Elevage in barrel
2021 A great year, with more depth coming from the maturing vines.
2020 A great year, with more depth than the previous vintage.
2019 More fruity and less complex than subsequent years, reflective of the young vine age.
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Young-vine chenin blanc from the home vineyard in Puy l’Eveque planted in 2016. Direct-press with elevage in barrel
2021 A great year, with more depth coming from the maturing vines.
2020 A great year, with more depth than the previous vintage.
2019 More fruity and less complex than subsequent years, reflective of the young vine age.