Winemaker Notes
#55 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2024
The Bandol Tempier Rosé offers a unique blend of complexity and freshness. It has a fine structure, with no tannin. The high-quality care given to the vines and the diversity of the terroirs produce a flavorful intensity and a strong typicity.
Blend: 55% Mourvèdre, 25% Grenache, 20% Cinsault
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
As always, this estate crafted one of the most perfumed and complex rosé wines in France. The 2023 Bandol Rose exhales aromas of spring flowers, guava, lemon, spices and iodine mingled with delicate licorice hints. Medium-bodied, textural and layered, it’s perfectly balanced with a fleshy core of fruit and bright acids, concluding with a long, mineral and iodine-inflected finish.
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Wine Spectator
Aromatically complex and seductive, this complex rose offers waves of red berry and chalky mineral notes from start to finish. Still tightly wound, with pink grapefruit acidity driving its energy and elegance. Hints of smoke and fresh chives hover over the long finish alongside a dusting of fleur de sel. Mourvedre, Grenache and Cinsault. Drink now through 2028. 2,350 cases imported.
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.