Mourvèdre (Monastrell)
Bandol’s great red grape and CDP’s structural backbone. Late-ripening, high-tannin variety with distinctive gamey-meaty character.
About Mourvèdre
Mourvèdre is one of the most editorially distinctive Mediterranean red grape varieties — the dominant grape of Bandol AOC in Provence (where 50%+ Mourvèdre is required) and a structural backbone variety in Châteauneuf-du-Pape blends (where it adds tannin and complexity to Grenache’s sweeter fruit). The grape is a Spanish native (where it’s called Monastrell) that reached southern France and Provence by the medieval period. Mourvèdre is late-ripening and heat-loving — it requires Mediterranean-warm conditions to ripen fully and is editorially limited to warm-climate regions. The aromatic profile is distinctive: blackberry, gamey/meaty notes, leather, garrigue (the wild herb scrub of the Mediterranean), and a characteristic dried-herb character. Serious Bandol Mourvèdre (Domaine Tempier being the canonical reference) ages 20-30+ years and develops extraordinary complexity. Outside France, Spanish Monastrell from Jumilla and Yecla produces value-oriented expressions, while Australian Mataro and California Mourvèdre extend the variety’s global footprint.
Variety profile
Also known as
Editorial notes
Bandol Mourvèdre requires 20+ years cellaring for serious bottlings. The grape’s reductive vinification character can produce funky/gamey notes that some consider signature and others consider a defect.