At Clos Triguedina, Malbec is more than a grape variety. It is a legacy, a living material, a lifelong companion for nearly 200 years.
This dark, dense, powerful grape, cultivated since Antiquity on the terraces of the Lot, has endured through the centuries like a survivor. In the Middle Ages, its “black wine” was shipped as far as England via Bordeaux. At royal tables, its inky color, resilience to travel, and remarkable ageing potential were widely praised.
Yet what few people know is that this “Black Wine” was once nearly forgotten — following the phylloxera crisis, wars, and the dominance of Bordeaux’s great crus… until a handful of winemakers, including the Baldès Family, brought it back into the light.
« We did not choose Malbec — it chose us. And it is our role to let it speak, without ever betraying it. »
Today, Jean-Luc, Sabine, and Juliette Baldès continue to nurture this bond between tradition and modernity, revealing the many faces of Malbec with both precision and boldness.
In Cahors, Malbec is allowed to reach its full expression. It is the terroirs that guide its path. The terraces of the Lot, like layers of geological memory, are the stage for a timeless dialogue between vine and rock — a driving force, a living identity. With changes in altitude, exposure, and soil composition, Malbec reveals a unique expression shaped by its terroir.
« In Argentina, Malbecs are charming, round, and approachable. In Cahors, they are more demanding, deeper. They have structure. Substance. They tell the story of their place. »
At Clos Triguedina, the vines are exclusively planted on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th terraces. Each level has its own rhythm, its own light, its own restraint.
This parcel-driven approach, unique in Cahors at this level of precision, gives the estate an infinite palette of Malbec expressions, embodied in La Trilogie, a true sensory manifesto.
« I love seeing people discover our Malbec as a rosé or fortified wine at the end of a meal. The grape is a tool — it’s what you do with it that gives it soul. »
Beyond the Malbec wines that built the reputation of the appellation and Clos Triguedina, the grape also expresses itself in more free, bold, and contemporary forms:
Each version is a variation on the same theme — proof that Malbec is polyphonic, not monolithic.
A fruit-driven red, pure and unadorned, offering a simple and authentic introduction to the grape.
A gastronomic rosé, aged in acacia barrels, delivering complexity and elegance.
If Jean-Luc structured Malbec with the ambition of a Grand Cru, Juliette is now exploring new expressions: gentler vinifications, alternative ageing methods, while maintaining a rigorous commitment to faithful terroir expression. Malbec is no longer just an identity — it becomes a medium for interpretation, a sensory landscape that is passed on, reinvented, and embodied in each new cuvée.
And throughout this journey, the legacy of the “Black Wine”, now reimagined through The New Black Wine, remains ever-present — a deep, noble signature reminding us that Cahors is not a wine of the past, but a living legend still being written.
