I emailed fellow blogger Tuula, Southern Californian raised, but now living near Bandol to ask "what are your favorite villages around Bandol"? She said Le Castellet is her favorite village, which I told you about here, and from there we went to La Cadière-d'Azur, which I told you about here.
After we finished walking around La Cadière-d'Azur, and we had not tasted Bandol wines, our primary purpose for visiting the area, we had tried at Domaine Tempier, but that Domaine is closed for tasting on weekends, so we decided to try at Domaine de Terrebrune in Ollioules.
As I told you here, we got to know some of the wines from Bandol including those of Domaine Tempier and Domaine de Terrebrune when we assembled the wine list for Bistro Des Copains, the French country bistro, now closed, I co-owned with friends in Occidental, California.
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| Domaine de Terrebrune Entrance |
Domaine de Terrebrune is in Ollioules, a town on the eastern side of the Bandol wine appellation, framed by the Mediterranean Sea and a mountain called Gros-Cerveau (Big Brain), dotted with olive groves and scenic views.
Georges Delille, who trained as a sommelier in Paris, acquired the property that would become Domaine de Terrebrune in 1963. He spent the next ten years renovating the property; terraced hillsides, restored stone walls, and replanted vineyards following the advice of experts.
In 1975 Georges built a new subterranean wine cellar and in 1980, his son Reynald joined him after he completed his oenology studies and together they sold their first bottles of wine vinified from Domaine de Terrebrune grapes.
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| Domaine de Terrebrune |
Today, Domaine de Terrebrune has 30 hectares (approximately 74 acres) planted in vines. The vines are planted on the terraces of the unusually named Gros-Cerveau (big brain) mountain and soils are made up of limestone and brown clay which was the inspiration for the name of the Domaine.
The Domaine is planted with Mourvèdre, as well as Grenache and Cinsault. Small amounts of Clairette, Ugni Blanc, and Bourboulenc is grown for the Domaine's Bandol white wine. Mourvèdre is king of grapes in the Bandol appellation, the berries are small with thick skins which give the wines their tannic structure and ability to be aged.
The Domaine follows organic farming practices and soil is worked regularly by plow and hand-hoes All grapes are harvested by hand, with sorting taking place in the vineyard instead of on a sorting table in the wine cellar.
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| Shirley and I in the Domaine de Terrebrune Barrel Room |
The Domaine produces around 10,000 cases of wine a year including a dry Bandol White (Clairette, Ugni Blanc, Bourboulenc, from vines an average of 15 years old), a Bandol Rosé (50% Mourvèdre, 25% Grenache, 25% Cinsault, from vines an average of 10 years old), and a Bandol Red (85% Mourvèdre, 10% Grenache, 5% Cinsault, from vines an average of 25 years old).
They also make a Vin de Pays du Mont Caume Rouge “Terre d’Ombre” from declassified Bandol fruit from the Domaine's youngest vines. It is a blend of 80% Mourvèdre, 10% Grenache, and 10% Cinsault.
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| Wines ferment in underground, temperature-controlled, gravity-fed stainless steel tanks |
After we finished tasting through the wines open for tasting, the tasting room manager took us through the wine underground cellar so we could see how Domaine de Terrebrune produces their wines.
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| Shirley in the Domaine de Terrebrune Tasting Room |
The wines of Domaine de Terrebrune are excellent and definitely worth seeking out if you are in the area. We bought a case for our cellar. The Domaine is open daily for tasting and tours except for Sundays and holidays. The Domaine also has a restaurant called "La table de Terrebrune". We didn't get to try the restaurant but we will try to do so the next time we go to the Bandol area to taste wine.
Domaine de Terrebrune
724 Chemin de la Tourelle
83190 Ollioules
France
Tel: 04 94 74 01 30
website: http://www.terrebrune.fr
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