Domaine de la Tour du Bon - En Sol 2017

Bettane & Desseauve

About the wine:

Vinification in amphora has tamed the Mourvèdre's ardor, making it purr in the glass without losing its assertive character. Velvety tannins, fine, tight chewing, lovely freshness, all accompanied by a lovely expression of black fruit, aromatic herbs, blackcurrant, blueberry, bramble and garrigue flowers. It's beautiful, sincere, and you'll fall under its spell.

About the domain :

Agnès Hocquard-Henry runs her domaine with the spirit of producing little but well. On her 14 hectares, she produces elegant wines that are close to the terroir, sometimes leaving the beaten track to create original micro-cuvées. The reds, rosés and whites are beautifully crafted, but the most surprising is the cuvée en-sol, made in tiny quantities with Elisabetta Foradori, Italy's papilla of amphora wines. Here, Mourvèdre expresses a supple dimension and unexpected finesse, vibrant and stripped of all artifice. We loved it!

RVF - La Revue du Vin de France / Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France

About the wine:

One of the region's most original Mourvèdre. It has been de-stemmed and macerated for six months in amphora, to deliver a still discreet floral bouquet and gently extracted material. A rough, lively grain gives it plenty of personality and a surprisingly fresh grape sensation.

About the domain :

The Hocquard family has run this estate since 1968. Located in Castellet, La Tour du Bon benefits from a unique terroir of limestone and sandy soils with varied exposure, making it one of the earliest-growing vineyards in Bandol. By the mid-1980s, the estate had already made a name for itself, with the 1987 creation of the Cuvée Saint-Ferréol, a fine, sunny red made from three parcels planted around a twenty-million-year-old hill. Then, in 1990, with the arrival of Agnès Henry-Hocquard at the head of the estate, the wine took on a new dimension! Surrounded by winemakers from the Loire Valley (Thierry Puzelat and Antoine Pouponeau), she has managed to stay the course of excellence, with wines that retain great personality and age harmoniously in a delicate profile without ever over-ripening, over-extracting or over-ageing. Since 2013, the inquisitive winemaker has been isolating Mourvèdre grapes for the En Sol cuvée, macerated for six months in amphora. An ancestral but perilous practice (the wines can become heavy and lack precision) magnificently mastered in a fine red with a rare iodine sensation.