«Gros'Noré», big Noré: that is what they called Honoré Pascal, the winegrower with the imposing build. When his son Alain built his own winery after Honoré's death, with his own hands, he gave it his father's name.
The Domaine du Gros'Noré sits in La Cadière-d'Azur, on the Chemin de l'Argile. The address says it all: clay and limestone soils on which Mourvèdre develops its full power. For years, the Pascal family sold their grapes to the venerable estates of Ott and Pibarnon. The characterful house wine they made for their own table never had a name. In 1997, Alain Pascal bottled his first own wines, and suddenly the «Revue du vin de France» and «Gault et Millau» were writing about the young estate.
If Alain Pascal did not exist, a French filmmaker would have to invent him, wrote the «Wine Spectator». The former boxer embodies everything you would picture in a winemaker from the south of France: strong, sun-tanned, with big, rough hands that once did their work in the ring and now tend his vines with remarkable delicacy. A Hercules of Provence, they call him. Our Bernhard has been sitting at Alain's table regularly for more than twenty years, and on a good day the host serves up a wild boar he shot himself.
With Alain Pascal, «by hand» is meant literally. After his father's death, he built the domaine himself, together with his brother, in the traditional Provençal style. He tends his 16 hectares of vines meticulously, almost tenderly. And when success called for a bigger cellar, he built a hall for celebrations while he was at it. Everything here carries careful craftsmanship and a love of detail you would not expect from the powerhouse at first glance.
Location & Soils
Soils Clay and limestone, just as the Chemin de l'Argile carries it in its name. Heavy soils that hold water and give Mourvèdre the long ripening time it needs.
Grapes
Vines Mourvèdre takes centre stage: the red is 80% Mourvèdre, 15% Grenache and 5% Cinsault. The late-ripening variety finds its finest form in Bandol.
Climate
Climate La Cadière-d'Azur lies in Bandol's natural amphitheatre: plenty of sun, the Mediterranean at the door and the mistral drying the vines after rain and keeping them healthy.
Alain lets the grapes ripen as long as possible, ferments with indigenous yeasts and does not filter. The result is intense, tannin-rich wines whose wilfulness gets them noticed. And which, with time, reveal what lies beneath the power: complexity, character and exceptional depth.
Gros'Noré is classic Bandol in its most honest form: powerful and harmonious at the same time. The red is 80% Mourvèdre. Visit the domaine and you will taste in the carnotzet, with a bit of luck alongside the homemade wild boar terrine. As we once wrote in our magazine: the domaine could just as well be called Grand Noré.
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