Cot

Identity

Cot leads a three-sided life. At Cahors, under this name or "Auxerrois," it gives the historic "black wine," deeply coloured and tannic. In Bordeaux, it is no more than a supporting grape. Internationally, under the name Malbec, it has become Argentina's signature variety — a success story that has ended up overshadowing its French cradle.

Medium bunches and berries, sustained vigour, marked tannin: depending on terroir and yield, Cot gives reds ranging from a simple everyday companion to a structured wine built to keep.

History and origin

The Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC, no. 2889, prime name "COT") gives its parentage as a cross between Magdeleine Noire des Charentes and Prunelard, confirmed by genetic markers, with a full pedigree on file. Magdeleine Noire des Charentes is already known in this corpus as the parent — unknown until its 2009 discovery — of Merlot; Cot and Merlot are thus half-siblings through this same Magdeleine Noire, a kinship that explains some of their aromatic proximity.

The second parent, Prunelard, is today an extremely marginal variety: the VIVC records only three institutions conserving it, in France, Italy and Slovakia. This corpus gives it a separate draft stub, created to carry this parentage since it has not been studied in its own right.

The VIVC records 194 synonyms for Cot, including "Malbec" — the official name in Spain, Switzerland, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Moldova, and the one under which the grape conquered Argentina — and "Auxerrois," a name used locally at Cahors, with no connection whatsoever to this corpus's Alsatian grape of the same name.

In the vineyard

According to the Pl@ntGrape datasheet (no. 78), Cot buds roughly four days after Chasselas, the reference variety, and ripens in the second period, two and a half weeks after it. The variety is described as vigorous, moderately fertile, with average production.

Historically prone to coulure, that defect has been markedly reduced through decades of clonal selection. Pl@ntGrape finds it has no particular susceptibility to fungal disease, except perhaps excoriosis; it remains, however, exposed to leafhoppers. Well managed, it needs sufficient ripeness to avoid herbaceous notes and a certain hardness on the finish.

In the glass

On the nose, dense black fruit: blackberry, blackcurrant, a touch of violet. Ageing, common in cuvées built to keep, adds liquorice, cocoa and vanilla. With age, the fruit gives way to prune and leather.

On the palate, acidity stays moderate (2 to 3), tannin marked (3 to 4) — among the firmest in this corpus — body and alcohol sustained (3 to 4). At Cahors, where it dominates the plantings by far, it gives deeply coloured, structured wines, capable of five to fifteen years' ageing in the most structured cuvées. In the Loire blends of Chinon and Bourgueil, where it remains a supporting grape behind Cabernet Franc, its role is limited to adding colour and body.

Great terroirs

Cahors, along the Lot valley, is where it reaches its highest expression: the AOC's rules make it the principal grape, at least 70% of the plantings.

On Bordeaux's Left Bank, the AOC Médoc rules admit it as a blending variety alongside Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Carménère — a modest presence, far from its dominant role at Cahors.

Internationally, Cot has become Argentine Malbec, especially in the Mendoza region, where altitude and sunshine give riper, rounder wines than the French version.

Commonly confused with

Merlot, its half-sibling through Magdeleine Noire des Charentes, shares part of its parentage and a certain fruity roundness, but stays less tannic and less deeply coloured than Cot.

Cabernet Franc, with which it shares the Médoc blend, is told apart by a livelier acidity and green-pepper notes that Cot lacks; Cot, more tannic, gives a denser wine.