September 2012

Château de Pibarnon 2010:

affirming the wines of the 2000s

The Château’s 2010 wines, now bottled, are distinguished for their balance, freshness, crisp, lively fruit, powerful, silky tannins and remarkable length.

At the end of the 1990s, Eric de Saint Victor took over the reins of the family estate perched on Old Telegraph Hill, overlooking the ever-changing sea. He blew in on a wind of change and embarked on the lengthy task of preserving the estate’s fine, rich heritage while continuing to improve it. That was the start of the immense labour of uncovering the local soils, establishing the refinement and character of each plot and finding the right matches, always in pursuit of balance and purity.
At Pibarnon, the combination of the various plots is what gives the wine its richness and spirit.
2010 therefore marks an important step forward with a first wine focused on its finest soils, revealing all its refinement and grandeur, as well as the arrival of Pibarnon Restanques. This new blend, called “Les Restanques”, affirms another of the estate’s identities, a more immediate aspect, crisp fruit with charming tannins and straightforward spices, while retaining the honesty of its forebear. /
For its part, the Château is the embodiment of its estate, now made up of some ten plots. Come with us and discover this patchwork of vineyards which makes the estate so complex.
/ Let’s start with Les Pointes Blanches. This plot of Mourvèdre, suspended above the void, stones rolling right to the foot of the vines, is typified by its minerality and power. It draws the essence of the Mourvèdre variety from our Triassic limestones. Caignet & Guerazzi, planted in a Triassic limestone soil over old clays, exposed to the west, reveals a lot of depth and power, unveiling a crisp and lively
black fruit and continuing with fine notes of spice and liquorice.
Jourdan, faultlessly dressed, dense, elegant, vigorous, plays its part as an older brother, stable, aristocratic, imposing and recognisable. /
/ A Mourvèdre which establishes a suave and powerful style. A subtle expression of masterly volume and depth.
La Grande Paguette, situated in the cirque opposite the cellar, is certainly the most iconic because of its position in an amphitheatre. Planted in the early 1990s, these Mourvèdres, with their east and south-east exposure, quickly establish their.
presence as a support for refinement and elegance - with a pinch of salt.
Le Cirque. In this plot, the Mourvèdre variety shows its “acrobatic” side: it is powerful, but neither round nor rich. Here, it is as slender as a panther.
Les Beaux Grenaches expresses all the charm and vigour of this wine variety at Pibarnon. Its importance is primordial. /
It opens the fan of the Mourvèdre variety in its youth, giving it a cheeky, devil-may-care attitude.
Mainargue. The wisdom of old Mourvèdre vinestocks brushed by sea breezes.
Here, the wines are lean, the tannins sculpted and the aromas suggest a Provençal coastal footpath, somewhere between the scent of the local heathland and iodine. /

Lastly, Bel Air. The vine “from up top”, growing at over 350 metres above sea level, the transcendent vine, the “venerable” vine growing in stony ground. This plot is the soul of Pibarnon, unveiling an incredible length combined with tannins of velvety power.

Our tour should also take in a few other plots, such as Les Hurlevents, La Réale and Croc d’Amic which also contribute fruit, refinement and minerality.

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts

Just like other great estates, at Pibarnon there are no special blends or selections, but two of its wines, Les Restanques de Pibarnon and Le Château de Pibarnon, share our local soils. On the Château de Pibarnon estate, the harmony achieved between the various plots offers that splendid balance of pressure and volume, minerality and fruit, vigour and freshness, power and sensual pleasure.

An ideal climate

2010 is THE vintage of balance in Bandol, a real winter, the right amount of rain, a somewhat cool spring, a hot, sunny summer and then a cooler late August and September swept by a relentless mistral. In 2010, all the conditions necessary for a great vintage were thus fulfilled.

The vintage of the 2000s

Only just bottled, the 2010 wine is still producing its primary bouquets of black fruit, blackcurrants, but also spices, such as cinnamon or liquorice, with heathland notes. This wine reveals a suave and crisp attack, a coaxing fruit, extending to fine spices, with a remarkably deep end of mouth, salty and mineral.

2010 is a picture in which flesh and fashion mix, mystery and understanding, simplicity and depth, the tangible and the elusive.

A wine in symbiosis with fine cooking

It can be served now with a nice roast beef joint, one of those famous pieces of Iberian ham like la pluma, roast pigeon or pressed duck. In a few years’ time, it will reveal all its complexity and elegance as a companion for truffles, game and venison.

1