Domaine des Trois Filles (La Cadière-d’Azur, Bandol, PROVENCE)

Our newest find in La Cadière offers everything you want in delicious, old-style Bandol, but with a graceful refinement that conjures up the late poet Jim Harrison’s idea about “Bandol, garlic, and Mozart,” offering some of life’s greatest pleasures.

Audrey in the Mourvédre vines planted by her grandparents.

Audrey Arlon worked at Domaine Ott and Domaine du Gros 'Noré, leaving in 2013 to take over her family's vines in La Cadière-d’Azur. Her parents founded the winery as "Domaine des Trois Filles," named after Audrey and her two sisters, Leonie and Justine. They now farm a modest 9 hectares of old gobelet vineyards which they co-planted with rye, fava beans, clover, and radish sprouts in between the rows. In the spring, they fold it into the earth to protect the soil while keeping humidity and maintaining a low temperature in the increasingly hot weather of Southern France. Giving natural aeration to the roots and better development of earthworms, they seek to limit the spread of weeds, create greater biodiversity, and promote microbial life in the soil. All of this work in the vines can be tasted in the extreme deliciousness of their wines.

As you would expect in Bandol at this level, Audrey and her sisters use native, wild yeasts in fermentation, use only gravity in the cellar to move the wines, then age in large wooden foudres (giving their Rouge an additional year beyond most Bandol producers), before bottling without any fining or filtration.

While we’re still discussing whether Mozart’s Requiem, Clarinet Concerto, or Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter” was his life’s finest work, there is no question about what the Arlon sisters are doing in Bandol. I can’t wait to taste their vintages to come.

Domaine des Trois Filles 2022 Bandol Rosé (pdf tech sheet)

Domaine des Trois Filles 2022 Bandol Rosé Magnums

Domaine des Trois Filles 2020 Bandol Rouge (pdf tech sheet)

Domaine des Trois Filles 2020 Bandol Rouge Magnums