Translation missing: en.ACellars Newsletter 16th February, 2023 - Timo Mayer + Domaine Tempier + Daniel Bouland tasting this weekend!: ACellars Newsletter 16th February, 2023 - Timo Mayer + Domaine Tempier + Daniel Bouland tasting this weekend!
Timo Mayer is as natural and engaging as the wines he makes; it is rare to see him without a smile planted across his face, and his eyes are the window to his playful yet caring soul. He describes himself as "just a farmer", believing that "wines are made in the vineyard", and so his winemaking method is one of minimal intervention.
Despite a family history in German winemaking stretching some 400 years in the Württemburg region, a young Timo left Stuttgart to travel the world. Fate would find him an Australian wife in America, and though his tradition-breaking path was never to be as the crow flies, his wunderlust would bring him eventually to study winemaking in the "place of many crows" (the local Wiradjuri name we know as Wagga Wagga).
It follows though that Timo's winemaking was never going to be straight and conventional.
His ethos is to "bring back the funk".
All of Timo's wines are unfined and unfiltered, so as not to remove any flavour or texture from the finished products. His signature whole-bunch ferment adds structure and gives a herbaceousness that will satisfy the Camapari aperitivo fans out there. But fear not, those optimists amongst you who prefer to live la dolce vita rather than the bitter-sweet symphony that's life: Timo plays with little carbonic maceration in his ferments to balance any overpowering stalkiness with complex and delicious juicy fruit.
Timo is best known for his Yarra Valley Pinot Noir, grown both "doctored" and "close-planted" on the steep slopes of his "Bloody Hill"; the name of the hill also the wine label of the new Australian chapter of Mayer family winemaking tradition with Timo's son Rivar taking the reins. His Syrah however is equally cult-status, and his Nebbiolo is intoxicatingly perfumed. Bring back the funk! - Peta W
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Domaine Tempier
A visit to cult wine legends Domaine Tempier really solidified what ‘terroir’ is all about. As you enter the vineyard you’re surrounded by wild flowers, lavender, and rosemary and thyme in a natural abundance that can only be explained through a glass of their wine. The family owned and operated biodynamic estate situated in Bandol on its clay-limestone soils is a benchmark of good wine in the region . - Chris L
Lucie "Lulu" Tempier was gifted Domaine Tempier, the Provençal farm that had already been in the family for over a century, when she married viticulturist Lucien Peyraud in 1936. Lucien, on tasting a bottle of pre-phylloxera wine from the domaine (also a wedding gift), was inspired to research the terroir of Bandol, and its strong history with the sun-loving, drought-tolerant, Mediterranean-thriving Mouvèdre. Despite many of the old vines in the region being replanted with more lucrative, higher-yielding varietals, even orchard fruits, Lucien worked with neighbouring vignerons to establish the AOC of Bandol in 1941, with the spicy, intense and age-worthy Mouvèdre to account for at least 50% of the blend with Grenache and Cinsault in the reds.
This spiciness, intensity and ageability, American wine importer and author Kermit Lynch notes in Adventures on the Wine Route, is reflected not only in the complex character of the domaine's rosé, but also in the character of the domaine's late convivial matriarch, hostess with the mostess Lulu, who passed away in 2020, just shy of her 103rd birthday. Lulu, as the ambassador of Domaine Tempier, was famed for her generous hospitality. A self-taught and wonderful cook, which she attributed to necessity, being mother to seven children, Lulu would champion the recipes and the local ingredients of Provençe. Her dishes were often spiced with saffron which she remembered from an earlier time being planted between the rows of vines in the domaine. Today, weeds in the vineyard are controlled by sheep, and biodiversity of the soil is encouraged.
The legacy of Lulu and Lucien in their passion for the land, the terroir and the history of Bandol is reflected in each bottle of Domaine Tempier. - Peta W
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Tasting this week:
Daniel Bouland
Saturday 25th February
3pm - 6pm
There is nothing "nouveau" about this new release of Beaujolais: Daniel Bouland is old school.
Bouland might not have the superstar status of the likes of Lapierre or Foillard, but he certainly is a favourite of ours, and joins the elite as one of only five producers in Beaujolais to be classified as a "producteur des très grande qualité".
Bouland is a reclusive genius. He spends his time tending and hand-picking his 6 hectares of old vine Gamay, spread mainly throughout Morgon, one of the 10 Beaujolais crus.
The soils of Morgon range from sandy loams to heavier clays, and the ferrous richness is expressed by a deep, and Burgundian earthiness. Bouland's Morgon wines are certainly worthy of the verb "to morgonner", the term given to the distinct wines of Morgon that age to become silky in a Burgundian fashion. We are thrilled to present six wines from the site-specific pockets of Bouland's vineyards that really explore the subtleties of the cru. - Peta W
“This tiny wine grower of the hamlet of Corcelette (note the first name as there are numerous Boulands in the area!) has seduced us for a few years now with his concentrated and textured Morgons. The fruit weight in no way masks the almost wild minerality of the soil. These wines have an intensity that can only come from old vines that are impeccably cultivated.” La Revue du Vin de France
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