Lucie “Lulu” Tempier was gifted Domaine Tempier, the Provençal farm that had already been in the family for over a century, when she married viticulturist Lucien Peyraud in 1936. Lucien, on tasting a bottle of pre-phylloxera wine from the domaine (also a wedding gift), was inspired to research the terroir of Bandol, and its strong history with the sun-loving, drought-tolerant, Mediterranean-thriving Mouvèdre. Despite many of the old vines in the region being replanted with more lucrative, higher-yielding varietals, even orchard fruits, Lucien worked with neighbouring vignerons to establish the AOC of Bandol in 1941, with the spicy, intense and age-worthy Mouvèdre to account for at least 50% of the blend with Grenache and Cinsault in the reds. This spiciness, intensity and ageability is of course ever present in the domaine’s most famed cuvée: the Rosé.
The legacy of Lulu and Lucien in their passion for the land, the terroir and the history of Bandol is continued through the domaine’s biodynamic farming principles.