Larry, do you recall which Tablas it was? Would love to see tasting notes on all of these.
John, I had a ‘13 Gros’ 'Nore this week and much preferred it to the '12 at this early stage. It had a very strong spice note to it that I found really interesting.
I have another bottle of the ‘12 Gros Nore’. Not sure whether to give it some time or open it and see if the one in our tasting was just an off bottle.
Regarding pricing, 2012 Terrebrune is available in the mid- to high-$30’s out here in flyover land.
For comparison purposes, 2014 Tempier is around $42-44.
[In case anyone is worried about it, I do not ship, so those are not offers to sell.]
Thanks for the notes. This looks like a cool tasting.
Terrebrune is deserves more praise. Even young, the wines have a lot of elegance.
I opened a second bottle of this. I was looking for a robust red to go with a spicy lamb-eggplant-peppers stew inspired by dishes I had in Diyerbikir, Turkey several years ago. This did the trick.
This bottle was pretty much the same as the one in the tasting: Big, fruity and a bit hot. I wouldn’t keep this, as I don’t think there’s enough concentration or acid to keep it in balance with more aging. But a good match for the dish.
I like Pibarnon, but IMHO it is not in the same class as Pradeaux, which is my favorite Bandol.
Perfect timing; looking at a cache of old Bandols and Madirans from the late '80 and early '90s. Tried a couple a Galantine '89 which was interesting and very “sauvage” and a 1990 Pibarnon which was delicious. Will probably do a tasting for my group and report.
Did a larger tasting of Mourvedres a few weeks back, and the standouts to me were a perfectly stored 93 Tempier Cuvee Cabassaou (ethereal), a beautiful and pure 2003 Tablas Creek, and a 2005 Beaucastel Homage a Jacques Perrin (beautifully balanced but did not necessarily speak of Mourvedre).
Others poured that night were a 2004 Hewitson Old Garden Mourvedre (planted in 1853 in the Barossa Valley) under screw cap that smelled like American Oak for the 2 hours or so that it was open; a 2008 Casa Castillo Pie Franco Jumilla that was interesting for its richness and ripeness but it was not ‘elegant’; a 2011 Alban Forsythe Vineyard The Mason that spoke of Alban’s winemaking and not the variety; a 2010 Denner Mourvedre and 2011 Villa Creek Damas Noir, both big structured and oaked.
Truly and interesting evening, but one that showed how few Mourvedres actually show the ‘elegance and pureness’ that I dig in the variety - but heck, perhaps that’s just me 
Cheers.
I see John mentions Dom. de Fregate in the original post, and given how scant commentary is, I felt like appending an update on a latter vintage. The 2016 Domaine de Fregate [Bandol] is a surprisingly good Bandol, despite its youth, and unknown heraldry. This came over via Rimmerman and his pitch mentioned that this is a product of some hospitality/resort enterprise, perhaps intended for local sale. And it turns out they make a more serious wine than one would expect from hosts, like Cordellian Bages. As expected, nearly all mourvedre but a splash of grenache, 14% abv, and a ruby color. The nose is sauvage, the fruit is more savory than sweet, but there’s lots of interest already. I should have saved this to see how it developed, as I have so few of this AOC, and on a dreary cold day felt like this might warm me up from the inside, so it was sacrificed. The leathery/saddle/sweaty aspects are not out of control here, but this is not a Provencal wine for casual consumers, and a chunk of cheese might help. Tannins are mostly rounded out now, acid is low, fruit depth is ‘medium’ and overall – I like it. It seems like US distribution, at least proxied by CT comments, has been absent since this vintage. On my card, I’d give this an A- and fans of the funk (guanciale?) might look for this in Europe. Beautiful, embossed bottle with a Tempier-esque gilt label and a cork with a stamped lot number – the packaging presents a premium image.
Nice note, Arv. Thanks.
But how did you get your glass to balance like that?
I find that producers who temper their extraction, alcohol, tannin etc. are able to perform gymnastics in the glass better than others. (that and having a little lip on the ceramic dry goods containers…)
