Wineshark Wine Tasting - Domaine du Bagnol

I visited this estate in the summer of 2018. After the really relaxing private cruise touring around the area of Calanques and a fantastic lunch at the Michelin 2-star La Villa Madie, we arrived at Domaine du Bagnol, to sample the famous rose from Provence.

The wine of Cassis has a long history. Archaeological excavations have dated its presence since Roman times and the first texts mentioning vines dated back to the Middle Ages. Originally, they grew in Courton, at the foot of Cap Canaille and the castle overlooking Cassis, near the beach of the Arena.

Domaine du Bagnol takes its name from the district where it is located, being one of the oldest in the Cassisden region. The municipal archives of 1430 mentioned vines in the Bagnol district and it was in 1867 that the first formal trace of the property of Marquis de Fesques, known as the Bagnol, appeared.

The modern history of the estate began in 1997 when Jean-Louis Genovesi bought it. In 2003, his son Sebastien, came to take over. Gradually he instilled his determination to preserve the authentic character of the Bagnol, both in terms of the terroir and the vinification of wines, in particular white wines. Today, his Marquis de Fesques cuvee is the flagship wine.

The motto of the domaine is to work in the most natural way possible. The first vintage labeled organic farming was produced in 2014, but the conversion was started three years earlier.

In Bagnol, all the soils are clay-limestone, a heritage from the colluviums and alluviums of limestone rocks which are variously marly depending on the location. They also benefit from an extreme brightness because of a strong natural sunshine, added by the reverberation born from the marriage of a circus of white cliffs and clear soils. The intense radiation promotes quality thanks to an even better photosynthesis.

Finally, the Bagnol takes advantage of sea breezes in the evening, with is quite cool accentuated by the depth of the Mediterranean in the cove of Cassis and by the coldness of underwater springs.

Visiting the winery we saw the estate was busy clearing up the space to get ready for the coming harvest. After that we were shown to the vineyard and looking at the different varieties grown, including Marsanne, Clairette, Ugni Blanc, Grenache, Mourvedre and Cinsault.

Returning to the tasting room I sampled all the wines in their range, and decided to buy a bottle of rose. The 2017 Rose has a light salmon color, with a light strawberry and cranberry, custard apple, iris and blossom, as well as stony and waxy aromas. The palate has nice refreshing acidity, with a lightness and toasty flavors supplementing the red fruit and apple characters, plus a fairly long length on the finish.