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2020 Bandol Rouge
Domaine de la Tour du BonBandol rouge: that iconic dark, brawny nectar with unmistakable tannic grip. Agnès Henry’s version is trademark Bandol but also a horse of a different color. Her blend includes a little less Mourvèdre and a little more Grenache than may be typical, translating into a softer structure and an almost ethereal weightlessness. The 2020 Tour du Bon rouge, with its juicy nose and bright, crunchy fruit, its mouthwatering acidity and peppery verve, is particularly elegant. We opened it on a perfectly ordinary Sunday evening with a bowl of butternut squash soup and fresh crusty bread. It made our quiet dinner feel like a fête.
—Emily Spillmann
Wine Type: | red |
Vintage: | 2020 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | 55% Mourvèdre, 25% Grenache, 15% Cinsault, 5% Carignan |
Appellation: | Bandol |
Country: | France |
Region: | Provence |
Producer: | Domaine de la Tour du Bon |
Winemaker: | Hocquard-Henry Family |
Vineyard: | 38 year average, 11 ha total |
Soil: | Clay, Limestone, Silt, Sandstone |
Aging: | Wines age in foudres for 18 months before bottling |
Farming: | Organic (practicing) |
Alcohol: | 14.5% |
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About The Producer
Domaine de la Tour du Bon
About The Region
Provence
Perhaps there is no region more closely aligned with the history to Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant than Provence. Provence is where Richard Olney, an American ex-pat and friend of Alice Waters, lived, and introduced Kermit to the great producers of Provence, most importantly Domaine Tempier of Bandol. Kermit also spends upwards of half his year at his home in a small town just outside of Bandol.
Vitis vinifera first arrived in France via Provence, landing in the modern day port city of Marseille in the 6th century BC. The influence of terroir on Provençal wines goes well beyond soil types. The herbs from the pervasive scrubland, often referred to as garrigue, as well as the mistral—a cold, drying wind from the northwest that helps keep the vines free of disease—play a significant role in the final quality of the grapes. Two more elements—the seemingly ever-present sun and cooling saline breezes from the Mediterranean—lend their hand in creating a long growing season that result in grapes that are ripe but with good acidity.
Rosé is arguably the most well known type of wine from Provence, but the red wines, particularly from Bandol, possess a great depth of character and ability to age. The white wines of Cassis and Bandol offer complexity and ideal pairings for the sea-influenced cuisine. Mourvèdre reigns king for red grapes, and similar to the Languedoc and Rhône, Grenache, Cinsault, Marsanne, Clairette, Rolle, Ugni Blanc among many other grape varieties are planted.
More from Provence or France
2022 Bandol Blanc
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2022 Bandol Blanc
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2020 Côtes de Provence Syrah “Les Planches de la Garedivole”
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2020 Cassis Blanc “Bel-Arme”
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2015 Bandol Rouge
Domaine de Terrebrune France | Provence
2019 Bandol Rouge “Saint Ferréol”
Domaine de la Tour du Bon France | Provence
2020 Côtes de Provence Rouge
Clos Saint-Joseph France | Provence
2022 Méditerranée Blanc
Clos Sainte Magdeleine France | Provence
2022 Bandol Rosé
Domaine de la Tour du Bon France | Provence
2022 Bouches-du-Rhône Rosé “Marie de Magdala”
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2021 Bandol Rouge “Lulu et Lucien”
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2018 Alpilles Rouge “Amethyste”
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2022 Bandol Blanc
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2022 Bandol Blanc
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2020 Côtes de Provence Syrah “Les Planches de la Garedivole”
Clos Saint-Joseph France | Provence
2020 Cassis Blanc “Bel-Arme”
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2015 Bandol Rouge
Domaine de Terrebrune France | Provence
2019 Bandol Rouge “Saint Ferréol”
Domaine de la Tour du Bon France | Provence
2020 Côtes de Provence Rouge
Clos Saint-Joseph France | Provence
2022 Méditerranée Blanc
Clos Sainte Magdeleine France | Provence
2022 Bandol Rosé
Domaine de la Tour du Bon France | Provence
2022 Bouches-du-Rhône Rosé “Marie de Magdala”
Clos Ste Magdeleine France | Provence
2021 Bandol Rouge “Lulu et Lucien”
Domaine Tempier France | Provence
2018 Alpilles Rouge “Amethyste”
Domaine Hauvette France | Provence
Where the newsletter started
Where the newsletter started
Every three or four months I would send my clients a cheaply made list of my inventory, but it began to dawn on me that business did not pick up afterwards. It occurred to me that my clientele might not know what Château Grillet is, either. One month in 1974 I had an especially esoteric collection of wines arriving, so I decided to put a short explanation about each wine into my price list, to try and let my clients know what to expect when they uncorked a bottle. The day after I mailed that brochure, people showed up at the shop, and that is how these little propaganda pieces for fine wine were born.—Kermit Lynch