WTN: 2000 Domaine Tempier Bandol Cuvee Speciale La Migoua

Tonight I opened my one and only bottle of 2000 Domaine Tempier Bandol Cuvee Speciale La Migoua after cellaring it for almost 6 years. WOW … what a beautiful wine: full rich aroma, dark and lovely, deep cassis, a bit gamey and smoky, mocha, nice tannin and finish. It went great with broiled lamb chops.

I have two bottles of undesignated 2000 Domaine Tempier Bandol in my collection. I think I will hold off another year before opening one of them, unless I hear from some of you with firsthand data to the contrary.

-- Clark

[David M. Bueker]

Thanks for the note. I really enjoy Tempier, but sadly do not buy much of it. There's still two bottles of 1994 in the cellar (Migoua and Tourtine), but little else.

The regular is normally ready to go sooner than the special cuvees, so I might peek in on one of your other bottles if I were you.

Some of the best bottles which I have opened recently have been Bandol. I'm about to post on another.

Never have met a Tempier I didn't like. A lot!

[Jenise]

What is wrong with us--we who love these wines but never buy them? I have exactly two in my cellar, which I was ruing last weekend upon having a '93 La Bastide Blanch Longue Garde--my was it good, and that wasn't even a supposedly 'great' year.

I, too, recently had a '93 La Bastide Blanche longue Garde that was very good. I hope that my couple of bottles of Tempier from the same year would at least be as good.

[David M. Bueker]

I don't have a lot of local access (and in this climate I am not doing much internet ordering and zero pre-arrival ordering), and I have too busy buying Riesling and Burgundy.

I just recently started buying Northern Rhones again. I havent gotten back to Bandol yet.

For a long time I wanted to focus, and I ended up with a collection that generally satisfies my needs. But there are times when I want something different, and the last 5 years of very focused buying has screwed that up.

In the case of Tempier, at least, the answer for me is price, price, price. After having many a splendid Bandol from them back in the '80s and '90s, I've watched the prices skyrocket. When I decide to shell out $100/bottle for a wine, I'm afraid that Bandol isn't my first, second or even third choice, especially when the wines from La Tour du Bon, Terrebrune and Gros Noré are still, comparatively, reasonably priced.

Mark Lipton

In the case of Tempier, at least, the answer for me is price, price, price. After having many a splendid Bandol from them back in the '80s and '90s, I've watched the prices skyrocket. When I decide to shell out $100/bottle for a wine, I'm afraid that Bandol isn't my first, second or even third choice, especially when the wines from La Tour du Bon, Terrebrune and Gros Noré are still, comparatively, reasonably priced.

Mark Lipton

Tempier at $100!? Migoua and Tourtine 05 are on offer here for €29 and Cabassou for €43, which is the price for good Châteauneuf du Pape. I think that these Bandols are well up to that level; indeed I'm not sure that I don't prefer them.

... in this climate I am not doing much internet ordering and zero pre-arrival ordering...

Why David, don't you know Connecticut has the perfect climate for shipping wines?!

Seriously, the 2000 vintage was more of an earliar maturing one, at least from the non-Tempier bottles I've tried. With Tempier, the saying 'drink-and-hold' applies.

Tempier at $100!? Migoua and Tourtine 05 are on offer here for €29 and Cabassou for €43, which is the price for good Châteauneuf du Pape. I think that these Bandols are well up to that level; indeed I'm not sure that I don't prefer them.

Current prices in the US:
'05 Migoua $60
'05 Tourtine $60
'05 Cabassou $90

I agree with you about the top Chateauneuf comparison. I've also had to cut back on buying those. Here's why:

'05 Beaucastel $85-90
'05 Pegau $80
'05 Vieux Telegraphe $60-75
'05 Clos des Papes $120

Much of this, of course, is attributable to the sorry state of the exchange rate over the past 2-3 years as well as the championing of Chateauneuf by Parker, and the situation may be changing soon. However, when I can buy quality wines from the Loire for a fraction of what these wines now command, it's hard to justify significant purchases of these wines.

Mark Lipton
(Don't even ask me about Burgundy)

Had this one at our annual Toledo gathering weekend before last:

1998 Domaine Tempier Bandol La Tourtine: Classic Tempier that’s in a very good drinking window right now, but with plenty of years left it. Kim described “huge mint,” and of course there’s the requisite earth, leather, black currant and beetroot character, all on a full bodied, well structured frame.