Cognac One | Domaine de la Bégude featured in Vigneron Magazine

Domaine de la Bégude featured in Vigneron Magazine

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September 8, 2020
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The prestigious Vigneron magazine features the greatest winegrowers and finest vineyards in France – and beyond – in its quarterly publication. And Guillaume Tari, winemaker of Domaine de la Bégude, certainly fits that criteria! In their Autumn 2020 edition, the Bandol estate, and the man behind these extraordinary wines, take center stage.

“For many, Provence is synonymous with rosé,” writes Vigneron, “and at La Bégude, they produce one of the most beautiful there is…but on these raw and wildlands of Bandol, on this bluff overlooking the Big Blue, there are also red wines for aging. Mourvèdre, fearless in its youth, becomes an old sage with aromas of garrigue, fascinating and deep.” In Domaine de la Bégude this local varietal reigns king in a range which consists of two reds – Château La Bégude and one plot, La Brûlade -, two rosés, and a white “where clairette, rolle and ugni give the measure of their terroir.”

As Vigneron writes, “Guillaume Tari talks about [Mourvèdre] like no one else.” For example, when describing the unique Bandol rosé Tari says, “I never provoke the color. It’s natural…Mourvèdre is an original, not a follower. Just look at it in the vineyard: each plot is different. So I leave the grapes to themselves, then harvest them ripe and balanced as with our other wines. Then we vinify using indigenous yeasts. Without any particular method, without excess and without constraints. This way, the wine simply reveals its character. In the beginning, it was difficult because it was necessary to explain the inexplicable. But today the market understands a little better these rosés which have a soul, which can age in the cellar and are at the level of any great wine. ”

The beautiful estate sits at the highest point in the Bandol appellation, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Here, Tari says “Mourvèdre finds in Bandol its promised land, especially on rudist limestone, with its head in the sun and its feet in the water.” But despite the idyllic terroir, the winemaking process here is not an easy path – Guillaume Tari calls making a red in Bandol “the work of patience.” That patience has certainly been rewarded because as Vigneron writes, “these wines are beautiful from their prime youth, gaining depth with years. Undoubtedly, they are among the best today of Bandol, offering an interpretation and rebellious touch of Provence.”

Read the Full Article Here (in French)