WTN: A Tempier Night

Nine of us got together on Saturday night to open many great bottles of Tempier and try to determine characteristics of different bottlings over several years. We had all four bottlings and the years ranged from '89 to '00. The wines were impressive but of equal importance was a wonderful dinner.

Appetizer: Grand Aioli with assorted veggies

’99 Tempier – Initial funk blew off, black cherry, some leather, round and soft. Entering the drinking window. Consensus was that this was not a great wine but very friendly and easy to drink. 16/18

’00 Tempier – Tightly wound, bright red berry fruit, hint of mushroom, focused with some tannins on finish. This wine will age and improve. 17 /20


First Flight
Sun -dried tomato tapenade, black olive tapenade, and fresh goat cheese on homemade baguettes

’94 Tempier La Miqoua – Nose of wet fur, beautiful dark cherry flavors medium to full body and excellent balance. 17 ½ /20

’94 Tempier Cabassaou – Lighter bodied than the Miqoua with slight acidity present. Seemed to be the least favorite of first flight 16 ½ /20

’94 Tempier La Tourtine – Somewhat similar to the Cabassaou but slightly rounder and more complex. 17/20

Second Flight
Pissaladiére accompanied by shaved fennel and apple salad with champagne vinaigrette

’93 Tempier La Miqoua – Up front, big fruit of strawberry/raspberry, some acidity on the finish 16 ½ /20

’98 Tempier La Miqoua – Muted nose, young fresh fruit, seemed more complex than the ’93 17/20

’00 Hewitson “Old Garden” – RINGER but mouvedre old vines from Australia. Easy to pick out as not a Tempier, sweet, vanilla, obvious oak but not harsh. Did not show well in the flight but by itself may be a good drink. 14/20

Third Flight
Roast leg of lamb with duck fat roasted potatoes

’95 Tempier La Tourtine – Peppery, bright with nice very long finish 17 ½ /20

’93 Tempier La Tourtine – Very soft, round with obvious age. The favorite of the night for several people. 18/20


Fourth Flight
Assorted cheeses

’91 Tempier Cabassaou – funky barnyard nose, soft and very complex, lots of flavors, none dominated, beautifully integrated. 18/20

’89 Tempier Cabassaou – slightly less complex than the ’91 with somewhat lighter body. Balanced, soft, and very easy to drink. Will not get any better. 18/20

’99 Lafran Veyrolles Bandol – Another RINGER but quite enjoyable. Big, obviously the youngest in the flight, more of a new world style. Could pick it out as different but many liked this wine. 17 ½ /20

Dessert
Pears poached in red wine

‘95 Tempier Marc de Provence – Great way to end a themed night. The color revealed time in oak. I am not a fan of grappa so it was wasted on me but many were orgasmic about it. Now that I look back, they were the ones that had the most pours. Go figure.

Comments
1) With the exception of the ’99 and ’00, which were regular bottlings, there were far more similarities than differences between these wines
2) Due to the similarity it was impossible to get a consensus WOTN.
3) I am not a Tempier expert but several thought the Cabassaou was not worth the premium charged, which I assume is significant.
4) Taking notes on 14 wines and trying to get crowd participation is a daunting task, particularly as the evening wears on.

Walt, thanks for the really interesting write-up. I've not had the pleasure of any Cabassaou--I hear what you are saying about the premium for that bottling perhaps not being worth it, but I am still curious to take the plunge some day. That 1991, for example, sounds really good! The only one of the wines you sampled that I've tried was the '93 La Tourtine, which I definitely dug. Sounds like it showed well at your tasting, as well.

Thanks again,

Michael

The only one of the wines you sampled that I've tried was the '93 La Tourtine, which I definitely dug. Sounds like it showed well at your tasting, as well.

Michael

If I had to pick a WOTN it would probably be the '93 La Tourtine. It just got very hard to differentiate after so many similar wines.
Walt

Walt,

I thought the 93's were great with the Tourtine my WOTN and the Migoua just a shade behind the 89 Cabassaou in 3rd place. I also thought, in general, the Tourtine's had slightly more depth and darker fruit flavor than the Migoua-maybe reflecting the greater % of Mourvedre in Tourtine of 70-80% vs only roughly 50% in Migoua. Was greatly surprised the Cabassaou's were so similiar to the Tourtines-but it is located just beneath Tourtine. It was a great night,even if Nicole's duck fat potatoes would have been much better than mine. A big thanks to Steve Adams.

mark meyer

As it might interest you after drinking those wines, here is a picture I took of some of the Tempier vineyards just the week before last. It is taken from behind the house close to the entrance to the cellars. In the foreground are the vines that surround the house, and these will have been the source of the Bandols that you drank with your appetisers, which they term the 'Cuvée Classique' at the domaine.

In the distance running up the slope is the Tourtine vineyard, and at the bottom of this there are 1 hectare of vines, in this picture hidden behind the trees and buildings, which are the source of Cabassaou. I think the hilltop village to the left is Castellet, a Medieval site.

The Miguoa vineyard is more distant, in Le Beausset-Vieux - you can't get that in the same frame, otherwise that would make a really nice picture!

Thanks for the notes.

Here is some news on Bunan, close by.

http://www.thewinedoctor.com/provence/bunan.shtml

Plus...>

http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingspr ... pier.shtml

Nice report. This seems finally to kill the theory, if any further proof were needed, that nobody has ever tasted a really open and singing mature Tempier.

Thanks very much for those notes! I have a half dozen of the wines you tasted and was wondering how they were doing.

They can be pretty stinky in youth with all the Mourvedre.

As it might interest you after drinking those wines, here is a picture I took of some of the Tempier vineyards just the week before last. It is taken from behind the house close to the entrance to the cellars. In the foreground are the vines that surround the house, and these will have been the source of the Bandols that you drank with your appetisers, which they term the 'Cuvée Classique' at the domaine.

In the distance running up the slope is the Tourtine vineyard, and at the bottom of this there are 1 hectare of vines, in this picture hidden behind the trees and buildings, which are the source of Cabassaou. I think the hilltop village to the left is Castellet, a Medieval site.

The Miguoa vineyard is more distant, in Le Beausset-Vieux - you can't get that in the same frame, otherwise that would make a really nice picture!

Thanks for the notes.

Chris,

Thanks for the photos-we actually stayed in Cadiere-d'Azur years ago-but I couldn't find Tempier. BTW love some of your Loire writeups and TN-especially on Bellerive as I find few TN on them-sitting on alot of the 96 and 1 bottle of 88.

mark meyer

Nice report. This seems finally to kill the theory, if any further proof were needed, that nobody has ever tasted a really open and singing mature Tempier.

Tim,

Steve and I did a 93 Tourtine vs Migoua 2 falls ago and they were drinking great then-love the 93's.

I have gone thru and read some of your recent TN-in the long ago past I found our tastes similiar the Loire-its been awhile since I have been on WLDG.

mark

Thanks very much for those notes! I have a half dozen of the wines you tasted and was wondering how they were doing.

They can be pretty stinky in youth with all the Mourvedre.

Bill,

I was surprised by the lack of "wet dog" in the younger wines-someone mentioned "raw meat" but in general the Mourvedre stink was absent. I am sitting on everything younger than the 94's-based on this tasting.

mark

Thanks very much for those notes! I have a half dozen of the wines you tasted and was wondering how they were doing.

They can be pretty stinky in youth with all the Mourvedre.

Bill,

I was surprised by the lack of "wet dog" in the younger wines-someone mentioned "raw meat" but in general the Mourvedre stink was absent. I am sitting on everything younger than the 94's-based on this tasting.

mark

It's funny (as opposed to 'funky') but we've noted a marked absence of the Mourvedre stink in recent vintages of Beaucastel, which used to be the veritable Limburger of CNduP. We've been drinking the 2001 with no sign at all of the fact that it has a high proportion of Mourvedre (and it doesn't seem like the traditiona vin de garde that Beaucastel always was, either).

Did someone sneak in a sanitized clone of Mourvedre when I wasn't paying attention? I have people that still comment on a Tempier I opened a few years ago at a tasting. They were so 'impressed' with it that to this day, you can mention the name Tempier and their response will be "Faughhh!"

Thanks very much for those notes! I have a half dozen of the wines you tasted and was wondering how they were doing.

They can be pretty stinky in youth with all the Mourvedre.

Bill,
Like Mark I found very little of the "wet dog". The '99 regular bottling had a funky nose but blew off. The '94 Miqoua was the only one that smelled like wet fur. The '00 had no hint of this nose. Something must have changed as this has historically what you would expect.
Walt