CHATEAU DE PIBARNON 'Bandol' Red 2007

Wine Region: Provence, Bandol - France

Grape:90% Mourvèdre, 10 % Grenache

Tasting notes: Now entering its second stage of maturity, this southern wine reveals a beautifully evolving bouquet of licorice, pepper, and the first hints of truffle. It retains a youthful energy and finesse, with impressive vibrancy and depth. A wine of striking elegance and complexity, promising even greater nuance as it ages further over the next decade.

About the winery:The breathtaking beauty of the Pibarnon vineyard and the orginality of its exceptional terroir are gathered in the majesty of its wines.

The origin of the refinement and elegance of Pibarnon wines lies in its captivating site overlooking the Mediterranean, where the vines, planted on restanques (traditional Provençal dry-stone retaining walls) up to 300 metres above sea level, live in perfect symbiosis with a carefully preserved ecosystem and an exceptional local soil. Those factors on their own would justify the estate's classification as a "clos” or a "climate”, like the great wines of Burgundy.

The art of working with vines...

At Pibarnon, they know that great wines are made first in the vine. The vines are trained into a straw cup with four bunches per plant. A wire enables the leaves to climb up and ventilate the bunches, to protect them from disease and encourage ripening. The vine is cultivated naturally by hand, without weed killers or chemicals, by a team of five people dedicated to vineyard work. The production rate is still small, between 31 hl/ha and 38 hl/ha, depending on the year, as for all great wines. That means practising a "green harvest” in early summer, removing future bunches before they ripen, and promotes proper ripening and adequate sugar concentration in the four bunches that remain on the plant. The soils are alive because they are fed with manure to encourage animal bacteria. It goes without saying that harvesting is done by hand on the hillsides every year by the same team of vineyard workers who sort and select the best bunches on foot, thus ensuring a healthy harvest.