Chateau de Pibarnon Bandol Rouge 2012
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
While most 2012s from the region are slightly superficial and charming, Pibarnon’s 2012 Bandol Rouge has real depth and density, as well as fabulous notes of garrigue, toasted spices, dried Provencal herbs, and sweet red and black fruits. It has present tannin, yet they’re polished and nicely integrated into the wine, and while this beauty will have 15 years of more of overall longevity, it’s already hard to resist today. The blend of the 2012 is 92% Mourvèdre and 8% Grenache, all of which saw an extended maceration and 18-20 months in larger foudres. This is a fabulous Bandol that readers should seek out!
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Wine Spectator
Features a large core of macerated plum, blueberry and blackberry fruit, lined with subtle savory, mint and tobacco notes. Anise shading shows on the finish. Needs a little time to unfurl. Best from 2016 through 2022.
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Wine & Spirits
Grown at nearly 1,000 feet, Pibarnon’s 2012 has a cool tang to the fruit, a cherry-pit flavor that rings out through its darker, more leathery aspects. Intensely spicy, it’s a vibrant Bandol with the structure to age another five years or take on a leg of lamb.
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The source of the refinement and elegance of Chateau de Pibarnon's wines lies in the estate's captivating vineyards, which overlook the Mediterranean Sea in the appellation of Bandol, in Provence.
A thick-skinned black grape, Mourvèdre has found its favourite soils in the sunny Bandol appellation. Some 3,000 hours of sunshine a year perfectly suit this slow-ripening grape. Rarely found in other cooler French vineyards, Mourvèdre brings harmony, elegance and an amazing ageing capacity to the red and rosé wines of sunny Bandol.
The Bandol region was essentially undiscovered when Catherine and Henri de Saint Victor purchased Pibarnon in the late 1970s. Recognizing the region’s potential, this visionary couple worked tirelessly for some 30 years, landscaping and crafting ever better wines.
By the 1990s, Pibarnon was making the region’s top red and rosé wines, a status today maintained under their son, Eric de Saint Victor, today the estate's winemaker.
Full of ripe fruit, and robust, earthy goodness, Mourvèdre is actually of Spanish provenance, where it still goes by the name Monastrell or Mataro. It is better associated however, with the Red Blends of the Rhône, namely Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Mourvèdre shines on its own in Bandol and is popular both as a single varietal wine in blends in the New World regions of Australia, California and Washington. Somm Secret—While Mourvèdre has been in California for many years, it didn’t gain momentum until the 1980s when a group of California winemakers inspired by the wines of the Rhône Valley finally began to renew a focus on it.
Provence’s leader in concentrated and age-worthy red wines, Bandol is home to the dense, deep and earthy Mourvèdre grape. Like Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Bandol produces characterful reds that, while approachable in their youth, are typically designed for the cellar.
Given its coastal, Provencal situation, Bandol also naturally produces an assortment of charming, aromatic rosés made of Mourvèdre, Grenache and Cinsault.