Château du Cayrou is a historic Cahors pioneer with a storied terroir that has produced some of the most compelling Cahors wines of the past decades. Until 2009, the estate was owned by the Jouffreau family, who also owns Clos de Gamot. They bought the Château (which was in disrepair from neglect) and vineyards in the 1970s, recognizing the tremendous potential of the site, and replanted 75 acres of vines. They were unable to keep up with Cayrou and their other estates at the same time, so in 2009 they sold the château to Georges Douin, a former Renault executive who revitalized the property, where he lives with his wife. George Douin brought in his son-in-law, Julien Goursaud, to take care of the vineyards and make the wines. One of the first things Julien did upon taking over at Château du Cayrou was cut the production acreage in half. The wines are currently being made with the the best parcels of the estate located entirely on well-drained gravel in the horse-shoe bends of the Lot river. Cahors is all about the rocks. Julien estimates that some of the parcels are simply not gravelly enough to make top-level wine, the produce of which he sells to one of the most well-known producers in the region. Some of the other changes Julien instituted included converting all of the estate’s vineyards to organic practices; Château du Cayrou has been certified organic since the 2012 vintage. He is also a great believer in the region’s indigenous malbec grape, known locally as cot, which constitutes the entirety of the plantings at Cayrou.