Domaine de la Tour du Bon

In the late 1990s, Kermit's children were attending grammar school in Provence during the months he worked tasting and selecting wines in France. One day when he picked them up after classes, a charming lady walked up and asked if he would drop by one day to taste her Bandol. Little did they know that it would be the perfect fit. Domaine de la Tour du Bon rests peacefully atop a limestone plateau in Le Brûlat du Castellet, in the northwestern corner of the A.O.C. Bandol. Nestled beneath the mountains to the North, it is a bastion of tranquility, an oasis on the Mediterranean surrounded by beautiful gardens and vineyards with emblematic names like La Rémoise (The Dweller), Saint Ferréol (a local saint), Ensoleillade (Place Bathed in Sunshine), Clos des Aïeux (Clos of the Forefathers), l’Aire (the Aerie), and Bellevue (Beautiful View). The Hocquard family has been farming this land since 1968, though this has been a full-time farm since 1925. Today, Agnès Henry runs the show. Independent, quick to laugh, and modest enough to be self-deprecating, Agnès has come into her own. For years, she worked in tandem with a hired winemaker to make La Tour du Bon’s wines. Though they made wines that won great acclaim, they did not always reflect her own taste. Not surprisingly, once she finally set her mind to making them on her own, she hit her stride, crafting wines with power and precision, but also finesse and charm. Who better to understand how to make the wine than the person who knows the story of the land the best?

The domaine is situated at an altitude of 150 meters above sea-level—a high point on this coastal appellation where maritime breezes cool the arid climate. Fourteen hectares of red earth, clay, sand, and gravel rest upon sturdy limestone bedrock. Brow-beating excavation and focused determination alone have built these vineyards. Agnès still has early photographs of the Mauric family, who lived here before the Hocquards, working the soil. Knee-deep into the red earth, behind heavy plows, vineyard workers toiled to bring this land to its current glory. (The tradition continues even today.) The copious rock served as sturdy material for building the house and walls that surround the property. The limestone has most importantly left its trace in the wines, instilling them with tremendous complexity, long length, and fresh elegance that makes them ideal for cellar-aging.

Technical Information

Wine	Blend	Vine Age	Soil Type	Vineyard Area*
Bandol Blanc	Varies : 85% Clairette, 10% Vermentino, 5% Ugni Blanc	38 year average	Clay, limestone, silt, sandstone	11 ha total
Bandol Rouge	Varies : 55% Mourvèdre, 25% Grenache, 15% Cinsault, 5% Carignan	38 year average	Clay, limestone, silt, sandstone	11 ha total
Bandol Rouge Saint Ferréol	Varies : 90% Mourvèdre, 10% Carignan	38 year average	Clay, limestone, silt, sandstone	11 ha total
Bandol Rosé	Varies : 25% Grenache, 10% Cinsault, 50% Mourvèdre, 8% Clairette	38 year average	Clay, limestone, silt, sandstone	11 ha total
Vin de France “D’Ici”	Grenache	Planted in 1970	Limestone	0.5 ha
IGP Méditerranée “En-Sol”	Mourvèdre	45 years old	Clay, limestone	.2 ha
* "ha" = hectares; one hectare equals roughly two and a half acres

VITICULTURE / VINIFICATION

• Grapes are all harvested by hand

• Average yields are incredibly low at 28 hl/ha

Bandol Blanc:

• Juice obtained by direct pressing

• Vinification occurs in stainless steel cuve

• Blanc may or may not go through malolactic fermentation depending on vintage

Bandol Rosé:

• Juice obtained by direct pressing (2 hour maceration for rosé)

• Vinification occurs in stainless steel cuve

• Rosé does not go through malolactic fermentation

Bandol Rouges:

• Grapes are de-stemmed

• Traditional vinification with indigenous yeasts

• Judicious use of punch-downs and pump-overs

• Wines age in foudres for 18 months before bottling
• Bottled unfined and unfiltered

Bandol Rouge Saint Ferréol:
“This cuvée was born in 1987 from the desire to insulate the domaine's most beautiful Mourvèdre, but without undermining the domaine's red wine. The Saint Ferréol will only be produced when the cuvée classique shows a good balance on its own. Quite spiritual by its name, sometimes inscrutable by its color, the Saint Ferréol gives an homage to the grape variety that is omnipresent (90% in this cuvée) and to our land that is made of a mixed type of soils. Its spicy, peppery palate leaves a mineral print recalling our sandstone. The tobacco, truffle, and lilly aromas blend with the tangy note of the Carignan. The addition of Carignan opens the wine and makes it brighter during its dark retreat.

To tell the story, the name was randomly chosen; Saint Ferréol (a religious-soldier-Saint) had been expelled from his religious order because of his excessive rigor. The verticality of the wine is similar to the one found in the vineyard and of this Saint, who died standing on a stake. Mourvèdre, a Spanish variety, acts like a bull, horns facing the sky and hoofs deeply rooted into the ground.” –Agnès Henry

Vin de France “D’Ici”:
• A Port/Banyuls style wine
• Only made in exceptional years
• From the Clos des Aïeux
• Natural fermentation
• Grapes harvested 1 month after harvest. At harvest about half the grapes are dried and half still contain juice
• De-stemmed
• Fermentation in concrete tank
• Fermentation stops on its own at 16.5% alcohol, 80g/L RS
• Aged in stainless steel tank for 2 years

IGP Méditeranée “En-Sol”:
• Traditional vinification with indigenous yeasts
• Fermented and aged for 6 months in amphorae, then racked to stainless steel tank
• Neither filtered nor fined