Lafran-Veyrolles, Speciale, Bandol

Loved it! Always been a fan of this domain and this bottle was a pleasure to drink. Nose was very mourvedre with animal notes, earthy, a touch of leather and reduction. Some burlat and darker fruits both on the nose and palate. Integrated tannins with a certain rusticity and controlled alcohol. Well done.

4hr+ double decant. Still quite tight and very tannic but started to open up in the glass over an hour. Still plenty of dark forest fruits and good acidity. Quite a long finish where the ever present tannins eventually seemed to fade away. Overall a pleasant wine, went very well with the cheese course. I think this wine has the stuffing to last and probably improve for another 10 years quite easily!

Sur un magret de canard au piment d'Espelette. Ouverte et épaulée le midi pour le soir, et carafée une heure avant. Très beau nez sur les fruits noirs, la figue, le réglisse, auxquels se mêlent des senteurs animales et du cuir. Bouche très équilibrée et pleine. Après une attaque suave vient un milieu de bouche plus en puissance. Très belle rémanence en fin de bouche. Cette cuvée est vraiment mon bandol préféré.

Still young and brash.

Excellent wine - lovely complexity and body. No Bandol expert me but would love to taste again - to my mind somewhere between bordeaux and the rhone, with the body of good rhone with the refined structure of claret. Was told to decant for at least two hours but to my taste was great straight out of the bottle (although improved over the course of the evening).