Chateau de Pibarnon Restanques Bandol Rouge 2015

Les Restanques is the first level rouge of Pibarnon, a supple yet spice-rich Bandol made from the Estate’s younger vine Mourvdre (70%) and Grenache (30%). The idea here is that the higher levels of Grenache (compared with the Bandol rouge), coupled with the younger vines, will produce an earlier drinking, more open-knit style of Bandol. The juice is naturally fermented in tank before being raised in a mixture of large barrels from the Massif Central in France, Stockinger foudre, and smaller Burgundian pices. Thanks to the cooler season, this is a suppler and more primary wine than last year’s richer example. The tannins are also super fine, giving centre stage to the wines’ fruit notes on the palate – blackberry, dark cherry, anise, and dried flowers. It’s smoother than the more expensive bottling (from 2015), with terrific finesse and a perfumed finish suggesting the fruit notes listed above but also wild lavender, thyme and bay. All in all, a cracking value Bandol.