Description
Château Pradeaux, Bandol Rouge
Although it may sound a bit coarse, you simply cannot consider yourself an epicure of fine French wine if a bottle of Bandol hasn’t been among your experiences. Every love affair with Mourvèdre begins with Bandol Rouge but one label in particular incites all-out pandemonium: the reds of singular Château Pradeaux.
They are a towering, centuries-deep pillar of excellence, and today, few estates in Bandol—or France for that matter—can match these deeply mineral and broodingly powerful reds. Redolent of gothic architecture, today’s colossal 2016 has a formidable and haunting façade that shelters the intricate beauty and refinement within—something that will be revealed in due time. Thankfully, Pradeaux always does a generous amount of aging for you. The devout traditional practices here make it so you won’t ever see a youthful wine on the market: Each hand-crafted bottle of Bandol Rouge develops for no less than 48 months in barrel before considering a public release! So while a two-hour-long decant is certainly an option now, to truly familiarize yourself with the hallmarks that made Pradeaux a living legend, another 10 years of bottle aging must pass, and to experience the pinnacle of salty/meaty/spicy/mineral savoriness, you must tack on another decade. Still, with or without patience, this is going to blow your mind. Enjoy.
I can think of few world-class wine appellations that have changed so dramatically in style and technical definition as Bandol. In decades past, Bandol represented the Provençal equivalent of the greatest Barolo or Left Bank Bordeaux—it was the epitome of dark, deeply complex red wine that demanded many patient years in barrel and bottle before revealing its true glory. Bandol was overwhelmingly dominated by the tannic and unforgiving Mourvèdre grape, mercilessly fermented in whole clusters, then aged for years in enormous old oak barrels before release to the American market (where it still demanded additional years in cellar before optimal consumption!). There was no “drink now” Bandol or “modern” Bandol—there was only Bandol, the singularly brooding expression of Provence’s most unforgiving terroir.
Fast-forward to the present day, wherein the majority of red wine produced in Bandol comes in the form of young-drinking, softer style of reds. Many incorporate a large percentage of overripe Grenache, 100% destemming, aging in small new oak barriques, and end with a release date that just barely satisfies the AOC’s minimum 1.5-year aging requirement. To put this in context, I wouldn’t fault an experienced taster for confusing many modern Bandols with Côtes du Rhône or some modern Spanish reds. Château Pradeaux, meanwhile, rests at the completely opposite end of this historic and stylistic continuum. The property’s reds are proudly 95-100% Mourvèdre. Pradeaux naturally ferments its grapes in the traditional whole-cluster method and resulting wines are aged in enormous neutral oak foudres and ovals for four (!) years before bottling.
The result is a powerful red with a complexity and depth of character all its own. Because of this uncompromising approach in the vines and in the cellar—and above all, because of one family’s integrity and undying patience—Château Pradeaux’s reds continue to carry the torch for the classic Bandol of yesteryear. Cyrille Portalis (whose family has farmed Château Pradeaux since before the French Revolution) is the current patriarch of the family property and he maintains all traditional processes: Vines younger than 25 years are jettisoned to rosé production, leaving only the old, wisened trunks for Pradeaux’s reds. All fruit is harvested by hand, and everything from the grape varieties to the giant old barrels in the family’s cellar remain as they were in the 1960s.
Today’s Bandol Rouge always consists of at least 95% Mourvèdre, a hardy and thick-skinned grape that generates a wild brute of a wine. And while this reigns as one of the most tannic and ferocious reds on the planet (young Barolo included), there is an underlying suppleness and dark-fruited generosity to it all. Still, we recommended a minimum two-hour decant before service in large Bordeaux stems if consuming one now, while preserving the lion’s share of your haul for many years to come—10, 20, even 30. This doesn’t just leave a lasting impression, it dominates your thoughts, and with time, it will become a sweet, indelible memory. Pradeaux is an unforgettable look into the haunting world of Bandol and for the price, it’s the savviest investment, too. Cheers!
