Organic. This is Pibarnon’s top wine, and one of the great ‘mountain Bandols’. It’s a blend of 90% Mourvèdre and 10% Grenache drawn from the estate’s high-altitude restanques. The altitude, the influence of the sea and the limestone/clay soils all bring a freshness and purity that is rare among Mediterranean reds.
This cuvée is based only on the fruit of the oldest vines and finest terraces of Château de Pibarnon, including Bel-Air, La Grande Paguette, La Falaise, Les Pointes Blanches, Le Col and Les Dolmens. Pibarnon’s rouge has always been a wine of finesse, and in recent years the style has been evolving further, becoming ever more refined. Under the young chef de culture Éric Schladenhaufen, the organic and biodynamic vineyard management has progressed, while in the cellar, cellarmaster Marie Laroze avoids winemaking artifice, working only with wild yeasts, large-format oak, low sulphur and micro-batching based on terroir.
The current vintage was fermented with indigenous yeasts in concrete tanks—with approximately 25% whole bunches retained to lift the aromas—then aged in a mix of new and used oak foudres (larger vats) for 20 months.
It’s an awesome follow-up to 2019, itself one of Pibarnon’s most exciting young Bandols. It opens deep and smoky, bristling with dark cherry, wild berry, fresh woody herbs and blood pudding complexity. The palate is compact and very fine; defined by stylish sweet fruit and underpinned by beautifully integrated stony tannins, precise acidity and palate-staining intensity. It finishes long and focussed, with a seam of liquorice and spice and the barely discernible 14.5% alcohol is effortlessly woven into the wine’s flowing structure. There’s so much potential brimming under this cork, yet also enough youthful charm to shine with the right food this winter (decanting recommended).