Domaine du Gros ’Noré 2024 Rosé Bandol

750ml bottle

13.5% abv

54% Mourvèdre, 25% Cinsault, 19% Grenache, 2% Clairette

Domaine du Gros ’Noré’s Bandol Rosé is all the talk here in Berkeley. Crisp and characterful, and loaded with Provençal complexity, it’s a balanced blend of structured Mourvèdre with Cinsault, a more delicate variety, and fruit-forward Grenache. Alain was once profiled during harvest for the major French news station TF1, and after seeing footage of his rigorous sorting practices, it’s easy to see why his rosé tastes so damn good.   
     “It all depends on the raw material,” he says. “If we don’t have that, we can’t make a high-quality wine.” Standing atop his tractor amid a bounty of freshly-clipped Mourvèdre, he inspects each and every cluster. Grabbing one whole like a giant drumstick, he tears off a bite with his teeth and swishes the skins, seeds, and pulp as if it were already wine. He pauses in reflection, then spits vigorously into an imaginary spittoon. “Too acidic, we can’t use that bunch.”     
     It’s August in Provence so Alain and his team pick before dawn to ensure the grapes remain cool. As the sun stretches up over the hills of La Cadière d’Azur, he practices yet another quality control technique. Holding up a gorgeous, plump cluster of Mourvèdre to the first rays of light, Alain fixates on where the sun enters the translucent skin of some pinker-looking berries, then tosses it to the ground. “Not ripe enough,” he indicates. It seems crazy to reject so much decent fruit, especially for a mere rosé, but Alain isn’t one to settle, and this is no ordinary rosé. “As soon as my grapes enter the cellar, the wine is ninety percent complete. I am just there to accompany them.” Alain repeats the sunlight test with a different bunch, only this time a glowy halo appears, and every berry looks deep, dark, and densley purple. This one makes it to press. With such ripe fruit, how does Alain keep his rosé so refreshing? “I press gently, never over-extracting. I prefer to lose in quantity over quality, that’s how to preserve finesse.”     
     The video ends with Alain checking on another parcel. One of his hunting dogs, trailing closely behind, devours some low-hanging fruit. Alain laughs, “Their palates are sharp, they won’t touch anything unripe. Yet another indication it’s the perfect time to harvest!”

Alain Pascal could be a character pulled right out of a Marcel Pagnol novel—a kind of Provençal Hercules. Like his father, Honoré, for whom the domaine is named, Alain is a strong, husky man with hands the size of bear claws. That he is a former boxer and an avid hunter should be no surprise, yet his physique matches both his spirit and his wine—this gentle giant and his cuvées are all heart. Of the many stories recorded in Kermit’s Inspiring Thirst, those of Alain are among the most entertaining. For years he sold his prized fruit from Bandol to Domaine Ott and Château de Pibarnon. Though he and his father would bottle their own wine for family consumption, they never labeled it under their own domaine name. Kermit has called those early family wines, “Magnificent Bandols made in the simplest manner, très franc de goût, with a whole lotta soul.” In 1997 after his father’s death, Alain officially started Domaine du Gros ‘Noré, a real shift that has brought him more than just casual notice. Alain is already a leading contender in Bandol, the appellation regarded as the grand cru of Provence.

He farms sixteen hectares of vineyards with the help of his brother, Guy, on the rolling hillsides around La Cadière d’Azur. The vineyards are composed of both clay and limestone, imparting a pronounced structure of earthy, splintered rock. This microclimate near the Mediterranean brings warm weather and full sun, tempered by the persistent Mistral. Alain leaves his grapes to mature fully on the vine, lending great intensity to the fruit. Where appellation law demands that each blend includes at least 50 percent Mourvèdre, Alain uses more, 54 percent—a choice that gives more power and concentration to the final assemblage. Do not be fooled by the strength and boldness of the Gros ‘Noré Bandol, though; underneath a big exterior is a wine of character, depth, complexity, soul, and finesse.

 – Importer's notes