DOMAINE TEMPIER 2003 BANDOL ROUGE •

"For years I enjoyed a family-run pizza joint in a little burg not far from where I live when I’m in Provence. The thin-crusted mushroom pizza was a favorite starter, then I’d order lamb chops which the father of the family grilled over coals in the pizza oven. Just before taking the chops off the grill, he would throw a branch of fresh rosemary onto the coals. When it was burning well, he’d remove it and throw it on a platter and then place the cooked chops on top, suffocating the flaming rosemary, releasing the most exquisite smoke. Tempier’s 2003 red smells something like that smoke, embedded, however, in the finest Mourvèdre fruit our planet has developed so far.

Tempier’s new winemaker, Daniel Ravier, has no bigger champion than Jean-Marie Peyraud, Tempier’s winemaker from 1974 to 2000. Ravier is on a winning streak. His 2002, for example, following his luscious, profound 2001, is my favorite 2002 from southern France. And now it is his 2003’s turn, a full-blooded Tempier loaded with personality."

Kermit Lynch