Last week I met up with Daniel at Tempier and tasted the 16s and ‘17s out of foudre.
The power, tannin, and energy of barrel sampled Bandol is a lot for your brain / palate to process, but once past the initial whack, it is amazing to see the grace, the fruit, and spirit emerge from these baby wines.
16 and 17 are back to back excellent vintages. They are ripe (though at this stage, not as ripe in profile as the ’15s), and they have incredible structure and finesse. The yields were low in ’16 and much lower in ’17.
The ’17 rose was pretty, perfumed, and open vs. showing any reduction. For those that pop it early, it should be super aromatic from the get go. Out of tank, it was seemingly lighter than I remember '16. I can still smell it.
I won’t bore you with a lot by lot run of each cuvée, but among some killer wines, my standouts were ’16 La Migoua and ’17 Cabassaou. HOLY Sh***!!! Both wines are still in pupa stage, but gawt-dang, the clarity, balance, and structure (with just enough baby fat) has these as two of the most remarkable wines I tried on my trip.
At the end of the tasting, Daniel blinded us on a few bottles. In a rare feat, I was in the zone, and got relatively close on each wine.
2006 La Migoua (guessed ’06 Cabassaou).
I think ‘06s are in a good spot right now. They are open, young, show they are from a warm vintage (though not like 03), and have a lot of charm. There is plenty of life but they are in a happy place. At home, 06s are a go to vintage for me if I want something with age without getting crazy.
1996 Cabassaou (guessed ’99 Cabassaou)
Perfumed (smells like classic older Tempier- herbs, dried flowers, savory, plum, etc) and it is in that spot where elegance is overtaking power. Long. A beautiful wine that will seemingly age for another decade.
1986 La Tourtine (guessed ’86 Cuvée Classique)
A tough year, but still a beautiful wine. Loosening up, aromatic, integrated tannins, beautiful weight. This would be a great wine to have with dinner right now. I really dug it.
1999 Bandol Blanc (guessed 99 Blanc)
A mature nose of citrus with some butterscotch and stoney / rocky notes. Incredible texture, mouthfeel, juicy acidity, and a long finish. This was a cool-a** wine. There isn’t a lot of blanc made and it was a treat to have one of these with almost 20 yrs on it.
I often scratch my head and wonder why these aren’t some of the most collected wines on the planet. They are relatively inexpensive and even in tough vintages are age worthy and compelling at 30+ years.
Though a peaceful man, I’m willing to fight people in the streets for the '16 Migoua.