Tour du Bon Revolution Bandol 2003
Bandol, France ($13)
As much as I dig the wine blogosphere I still get tremendous value from reading a few regular wine columns written by people that actually make a living with the pen. Eric Asimov’s work for the New York Times always puts me in the mood to go out and pick up something different and he recently wrote a piece entitled “A Sturdy Red for Winter” that got me excited about the Mourvedre grape.
I’ve drank many wines that use this grape as a building block and I’ve certainly had my share of jammy Spanish Monastrell in my day but I’ve never had anything from Bandol. When a wine writer like Asimov uses terms like haunting, savage and wild I’m on board to spend a few bucks and see what this region is all about.
I didn’t easily find what I was looking for until I cam across this Domaine de la Tour du Bon Revolution Bandol 2003 made up of 60% Mourvedre, 30% Grenache and 10% Cinsault.
Aromas of sour cherry, red plum, loam, red apple skin, licorice and cocoa were complimented by a touch of barnyard. The mouth-feel was all about the rustic granular tannins and balanced acidity. Full and fleshy on the mid-palate, it didn’t lose any momentum with its lingering bitter dark chocolate finish.
Simply put this wine was fun. Dark and rustic, dirty and ripe I just dug the style. I think the age helped this one out as I can imagine it being a little less charming if it was showing these tannins in their youth. Bandol is now officially on my radar.
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