2005 Domaine Tempier Bandol

O

Oswaldo Costa

Oswaldo Costa
2005 Domaine Tempier Bandol 11-14% (tastes like 13%)
Mostly mourvdre, with grenache, cinsault and a smidgen of carignan. Pungent cherry and pomegranate aromas with a (not unattractive) metallic edge (Marcia gets chocolate too). Very acidic before food, and quite dry. Becomes balanced with food. Not closed, but tight. Never quite pushes the pleasure buttons, but brownie points for not sucking up. Tempier has probably changed less than Joguet since Kermit Lynch sang their praises, but in wine sometimes it seems like ars brevis vita longa is closer to the rule. But will give this the benefit of the doubt and wait a few years before opening another.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Tempier has probably changed less than Joguet since Kermit Lynch sang their praises
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I strongly take issue with this assertion based on my experience drinking both producers vintage after vintage, young and aged, beginning in the early 1980s.
 
I think Tempier changed significantly after Jean-Marie Peyraud's retirement, and the subsequent purchase of much new cooperage. I've heard the wines have settled down into a groove now, but that groove is different from the 80's and 90's.
 
originally posted by Hank Beckmeyer:
I think Tempier changed significantly after Jean-Marie Peyraud's retirement, and the subsequent purchase of much new cooperage. I've heard the wines have settled down into a groove now, but that groove is different from the 80's and 90's.
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Already by about 1990 they had eliminated the funky aromas in the young wines that turned many people off -- that was a significant change.

Since then, Daniel Ravier has taken over responsibility for running the estate (ca. 2001), although Franois and Jean-Marie still consult with him. The new wood in recent vintages is transitory as the old cooperage is replaced and eventually they will settle back to all or virtually all old wood. But what Ravier says is most significant is that now each parcel is picked at optimum ripeness, whereas in the old days once the harvest began, they just went straight on through until it finished. This gives riper wines, but wines that Ravier is quite candid about in saying that he does not know if they will age as long as the old ones did. Another change is that for the red and ros, he has gone back to cement fermenters (from stainless steel). Also, ros is a much higher percentage of the wine produced now, and the estate comprises much more surface area than in the old days.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
2005 Domaine Tempier Bandol2005 Domaine Tempier Bandol 11-14% (tastes like 13%)
Mostly mourvdre, with grenache, cinsault and a smidgen of carignan. Pungent cherry and pomegranate aromas with a (not unattractive) metallic edge (Marcia gets chocolate too). Very acidic before food, and quite dry. Becomes balanced with food. Not closed, but tight. Never quite pushes the pleasure buttons, but brownie points for not sucking up. Tempier has probably changed less than Joguet since Kermit Lynch sang their praises, but in wine sometimes it seems like ars brevis vita longa is closer to the rule. But will give this the benefit of the doubt and wait a few years before opening another.
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In recent tastes of the 05, 06, and 07 I found the 05 to be the most rustic and wound up. 06 was the juiciest and most accessible in the now while the 07 was in a similar style but unsettled. The 05 gave me the most hope for a rewarding drink down the road but the 06 converted a lot of California cab drinkers in my area.
 
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