Domaine Tempier Bandol La Tourtine 2015

The extremely rare, small production, single vineyard La Tourtine Bandol is made of 80% Mourvèdre, 10% Grenache and 10% Cinsault from 40 + year old vines. La Tourtine vineyard sits just above Cabassaou vineyard. The soil at La Tourtine is more homogeneous, with rich clay and limestone. La Tourtine produces powerful, tannic wines with gorgeous fruit character.  All grapes at Tempier are harvested by hand . This wine's grapes are de-stemmed, then fermented with natural yeast and vinified for 2 to 3 weeks in stainless steel. After maceration is finished and must is pressed, the wine is moved to oak foudres for malolactic fermentation, aged in oak foudres (25 to 50 hl) for 18 to 20 months, bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Domaine Tempier truly stands for the defense of terroir, and is intricately interwoven with the history of the great importer, Kermit Lynch. The iconic Peyraud family of Domaine Tempier has established an impeccable reputation for their authentic Bandol wines of Provence. When Lucie “Lulu” Tempier married Lucien Peyraud in 1936, her father gave them Domaine Tempier, an active farm that had been in the family since 1834, near Le Plan du Castellet, just outside the Mediterranean seaport village of Bandol. Tasting a pre-phylloxera bottle of Domaine Tempier Bandol (a wedding gift from his father-in-law) inspired Lucien to research the terroir of Bandol extensively. Up until that point, old vineyards planted with Mourvèdre had been systematically replanted to higher-yielding varietals. However, more research not only showed its historical roots to the area, but the grape proved to be more resistant to oxidation, producing wines with great aging potential. By 1941, with the assistance of neighboring vignerons, Lucien worked with the I.N.A.O. (Institut National des Appellations d’Origines) to establish Bandol as its own A.O.C. Needless to say, large-scale replanting of Mourvèdre ensued, and Bandol now requires a fifty percent minimum in all reds. Lucien will forever be celebrated as the Godfather of Bandol, but also as the man who revived Mourvèdre to its former glory. Raising deep and structured wines of such refinement and longevity has made Domaine Tempier truly a grand cru de Provence.