Winemaker Notes
Tempier's Blanc, with its delicate florals, subtle note of anise, and stony finish, tastes perfect alongside shellfish or grilled seafood. After a few years in your cellar, pair it with cheeses or serve it alone to appreciate the “honeyed and marine aromas” that develop with age.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Composed around Clairette, this 2024 Bandol Blanc is very spare and perfumed, with notes of candied lemon and white almond. The texture is aerial, spare, and finely saline.
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Vinous
The 2024 Bandol Blanc—based on 60% Clairette with 30% Ugni Blanc and the rest Rolle, Marsanne and Roussanne—unwinds with light scents of lemon flesh and white flowers. One night of skin contact has shaped its tender, delicate profile. Medium-bodied, crisp and already showing well, the 2024 carries its softness with subtle charm and finishes on an enticingly fresh note.
Full-bodied and flavorful, white Rhône blends originate from France’s Rhône Valley. Today these blends are also becoming popular in other regions. Typically some combination of Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier form the basis of a white Rhône blend with varying degrees of flexibility depending on the exact appellation. Somm Secret—In the Northern Rhône, blends of Marsanne and Roussanne are common but the south retains more variety. Marsanne, Roussanne as well as Bourboulenc, Clairette, Picpoul and Ugni Blanc are typical.
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.