Translation missing: en.Domaine Tempier Rosé has arrived + TdF: South West and Southern France + Saison Aperitif!: Domaine Tempier Rosé has arrived + TdF: South West and Southern France + Saison Aperitif!
Tempier Rosé is back!
Taste it, this Saturday
3pm - 6pm
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 celebrated 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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Tour de France:
Breakaways in the SXSW
Last night, Guillaume Brahimi comforted his night owl armchair travelling companions with his chunky Gascon ham hock stew, bravo Guillaume!
But more so bravo Jai! Viewers tuning in to be taken on their nightly tour of the French countryside were treated to Australia's own Jai Hindley donning the yellow jersey in the first mountain stage of this year's Tour de France. The young climber's 163km road to victory rolled out in the city of Pau, surrounded by the stunning panoramas of the Pyrénées and the rolling hills of the Jurançon.
Whilst the pro cyclists leave the Pyrénées tomorrow to continue their journey sitting back in their saddles on the slightly more comfortable flat banks of Bordeaux, the south of France is an area on which we would love to shed more of its own sunshiny light.
Whilst the rosés of Provençe to the south east, including Domaine Tempier, have an international following, the region simply known as South West is a treasure trove of hidden gems, from the seductive powers of the Jurançon's Petit and Gros Manseng, the dark and tainted Malbec or Côt of Cahors, and the rich, dried fruit flavours of Armagnac.
To its east, the south of France is home to its largest wine-producing region, Languedoc-Rousillon. But don't be fooled into thinking land mass equals mass production. This region is home to some our favourite small-scale and cult producers who really push the constrains of tradition; the true breakaways from the peloton of norm.
Click on the link below to explore our curated selection of the South West and Southern France in SWSF, a sundrenched vinous festival. - Peta W
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Saison Aperitifs
Ceci n'est pas un Cynar... But it is a Carciofo*.
Arti-jokes aside, the new Artichoke Amaro from Saison Aperitifs is sur-really delicious! An artfully balanced twist of bitters- globe artichokes, wild thistles, wild lavender and meyer lemon over a moscato base.
(*Carciofo, the Italian word for artichoke, also used for the amaro (bitter) liqueurs made with it).
The new House Vermouth in also in Saison now too.
Whet your appetite with Melbourne restaurant chef Dave Verheul's Vermouths and Aperitifs that focus on celebrating the flavours of the season. - Peta W