2020 La Tour du Bon En Sol IGP Mediterranée
VARIETAL: Mourvèdre
REGION: Bandol, FR
VITICULTURE: Organic
WINEMAKER: Agnès Henry
In 2012, Agnès met Elisabetta Foradori, who makes wine from the local Teroldego in the Italian Dolomites, notably in amphora. Agnès said that the first wine she tasted from Elisabetta was a white made in amphora and it gave her “the sensation of touching a truth that resonated in me, a wine that flowed like water, that spoke to me of something other than wine,” (Le Rouge et le Blanc, Summer 2016). Elisabetta confessed that she is a huge fan of Mourvèdre and that it would be very interesting to try Mourvèdre made in amphora. Agnes’ curiosity was piqued and in 2013, Domaine de la Tour du Bon bought some amphorae and set out to make its first amphora wine.
She chose only Mourvèdre from her best parcels: Saint-Ferreol with 50-year-old vines and l’Ensoleillade with 25-year-old vines. The grapes ferment and age on the skin and seeds for six months and then are pressed and aged further in tank. Agnès is especially enjoying this method of fermenting and aging wine because she finds that clay allows the fruit to be more communicative– perhaps there is a natural affinity between the grapes and this earthen vessel? The amphora preserves the fruitiness of Mourvèdre, mellows the tannins, and keeps a higher level of acidity. Because the wine is not aged in wood, it is not permitted to be sold as Bandol, and so carries the IGP Mediterranée appellation.
The magnificent Bandol appellation, known for its powerful reds and structured, elegant rosés, borders the Mediterranean Sea. Half a mile inland on a hillside near a tiny village called Le Castellet, Domaine de la Tour du Bon is quietly making some of the best wines that the appellation has to offer. The terroir here is a clay-limestone mix with a red subsoil. The 12 hectares of vines form a natural amphitheater overlooking the sea, and with abundant sunshine and very little rain, this is the hottest area in the appellation.
Agnès Henry is the current winemaker and owner of Domaine de la Tour du Bon. Her parents bought the estate in 1968 and spent the next two years digging into the rocky earth and planting the vines that she now tends full-time. In her 25 years of making wine, she has come to embrace organic agriculture and a hands-off approach in the cellar. In addition to farming organically, she has for the last few years worked with a dyanmizer to prepare biodynamic treatments.
Fermentations take place in open top cement vats using native yeasts and normally last about three weeks; she pumps over occasionally to get oxygen to the yeasts. Following Bandol’s requirements, the reds are aged in wood (a mix of foudres and barrels) for a minimum of eighteen months. The wines are not fined or filtered. Domaine de la Tour du Bon wines are traditional and unmanipulated, offering a true expression of Bandol’s unique terroir.