Many local grape varieties are still grown in southwest France, some with their own small appellations. Cahors, famous since the Middle Ages for the intensity and body of its wines, is a typical example. Though some producers add a little Merlot to soften the taste, here we rely on the essence and fragrance of a variety known in other French areas as cot, in Argentina and Bordeaux as malbec and here also as auxerrois. Due to this variety, and warmer summers than Bordeaux, Cahors wine tends to be more full-bodied and vigorous, if slightly more rustic, than the typical Bordeaux red. Most of the newer vineyards have been planted on rocky slopes where ripening takes longer and wines obtained are more compact than early Cahors grown on the banks of the Lot River.