Château les Croisille Silice, 2021, Cahors, France

This silky smooth Cahors just stepped out of a Knightsbridge salon.

Meet one of the non identical twin brothers of Croisille Divin. Silice is the charming bad boy who nicked his older brother's worn down leather jacket, only smokes hand-rolled cigarettes, and pumps iron while singing along to Robert Plant on a Sunday. He exudes jammy red fruits with some of the silkiest tannins around this part of town, where the soil is sandy in Luzech. When we asked Germain, the winemaker at Croisille, if he makes magnums of Silice, he responded, "why not just have a bucket and a straw?" One sip later, and we couldn't agree more.

Château le Croisille was born out of a family's last endeavour to turn passion into a career. Armed with a passion for the land, Bernard and Cecile Fages Croisille set up shop in Luzech in 1979. Starting as grape growers, Bernard and Cecile did not come from a winemaking background, and their neighbour taught them how to make wine. 10 years later, Bernard and Cecille made their first wine, and with the help of the family, they renovated the old cellar.

[shortstart]Silky Malbec to drink by the bucketloads[shortend]