Domaine la Suffrene Bandol Rose 2021
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Parker
Robert
Product Details
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Winemaker Notes
Blend: 40% Mourvèdre, 30% Cinsault, 20% Grenache, 10% Carignan
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Just nicely proportioned and harmonious all around, Suffrene's 2021 Bandol Rose is a slightly coppery flamingo-pink in hue. Juicy, mouthwatering flavors of citrus, pineapple and underripe peach finish silky-smooth, clean and refreshing. Balanced and long, this is a fine effort.
Other Vintages
2020-
Enthusiast
Wine
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Parker
Robert
Domaine la Suffrene in Bandol has been the Gravier family homestead and vineyard for generations, but the grapes had always been sold to local cooperatives. It wasn’t until 1996, when Cedric Gravier took to the helm, that the vineyards’ potential was realized and bottled at the estate.
With approximately 52ha planted to vines that are parcellated like patchwork, 47ha are classified Bandol and 5ha are Vins des Pays, which are located around the winery itself. At 300m, Dm la Suffrene is the only winery to have vines located at the top of the hill at “Les Lauves” (1ha), where their altitude and proximity to the sea provide humidity and cool summer nights, yielding age-worthy reds. Located in Var, between the two mountain ranges of the Castellet: the Cadiere and Sainte Anne De Castellet, the soils here are littered with shells, planted to olive trees, wild flowers and wild rosemary, and range from calcareous sandstone at the top of the hill to soils of stoney calcareous clay just below. The winery’s south facing slopes are also home to the mistral, which helps ensure that the vines remain disease free.
Home to 70-year-old Carignan and 50-year-old Mourvedre vines, the vineyards here are farmed organically but not certified. After sorting, destemming and crushing the fruit for his rosé, Cedric presses and lets the juice sit in tank for 48 hours to ‘decant’ until the sediment settles and the juice has reached 8-10 degrees Celsius, before pumping the clear juice to another tank for a 10-12 day fermentation. For his red wines, including “Les Lauves”, Cedric de-stems up to 85% and co-ferments in oak, only if the fruits’ maturity permits. Preferring to co-ferment, because – “If you can mix in the tank by fermentation,” said Cedric, “then it’s more homogeneous...We use big foudres of 4,000 to 6,000 litres,” he added, “because we’re not looking to impart flavors and tannins.” Malolactic fermentation is typically blocked to retain freshness.
Whether it’s playful and fun or savory and serious, most rosé today is not your grandmother’s White Zinfandel, though that category remains strong. Pink wine has recently become quite trendy, and this time around it’s commonly quite dry. Since the pigment in red wines comes from keeping fermenting juice in contact with the grape skins for an extended period, it follows that a pink wine can be made using just a brief period of skin contact—usually just a couple of days. The resulting color depends on grape variety and winemaking style, ranging from pale salmon to deep magenta.
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.