Domaine Tempier
by Chris Santini
See that little boat on the label? That’s a hand-drawn Tartane, the once ubiquitous Mediterranean cargo boat capable of delivering a hundred large barrels of wine around the world and back. The fleurs-de-lys on its sail signify that this Tartane belonged to the royal French fleet, which Louis XV famously used to ship what was then called “Vin Rouge de la Riviera” out of the port town of Bandol, to fill up cellars all around Europe as well as his own. So much of this rouge shipped from Bandol (a good portion coming from the Tempier estate, even back then) that the wine slowly took on the name of the port from which it set sail. That sketch was a gift from Alphonse Tempier to his late daughter Lucie, whom we now affectionately know as Lulu, whose 102 years of joie de vivre inspired us all. The drawing has graced every single bottle of Tempier released over the decades and through the succeeding generations—an understated reminder of how history, continuity, and family bonds have made Domaine Tempier what it is today.
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