2020 Chateau Leret de Monpezat Malbec Reserve Cahors 750 ml

Cahors, France used to be considered a rustic backwater of the wine world.

When Hobbs arrived in Cahors at the invitation of fourth-generation wine producer Bertrand-Gabriel Vigouroux (whose family manages Château Leret de Monpezat), he initially found little to impress him. The wines he first tasted from the region were so harsh and tannic, he said, they were almost undrinkable without foie gras.

If you’re a student of recent wine history, this origin story should start giving you déjà vu. Once before, Hobbs hopped off a plane in a place with low expectations, in a land of overirrigation and overproduction—and helped transform it into a new global bastion of fine wine. That place, of course, is Mendoza, Argentina, where Hobbs trailblazed a new high-altitude, terroir-transparent approach to Malbec in the 1990s that has forever linked his name with that grape.

He has described his pilgrimage to Cahors as a kind of coming home—after all, it is the ancestral home of Malbec. As winemakers will tell you, Malbec loves limestone, and the plateau next to the Lot River where Leret’s vineyards are located is rich with it.

Hobbs and Vigouroux have instituted new practices—improved canopy management, lower yields, high-quality French oak barrels—that have redefined Cahors Malbec, giving wines like this 2020 release a claret-like finesse. Cultivated from vines 48 to 58 years in age, at an estate founded in the 16th century, this is power married to elegance. With 95-point praise and an this price tag, it’s a shoe-in for the cellar.