At the beginning of October 2019 I visited Domaine Tempier, and had a spectacular tour of the vineyards and winery, over several hours, with Daniel Ravier. And as we were leaving I spotted a pallet of the newly bottled 2017 vintage, which they had labelled specially to commemorate Lulu Peyraud (née Tempier)’s 100th birthday. It hadn't yet been released, so wasn't for sale, but Daniel very kindly gave me a bottle.
Afterwards I was standing around outside having a smoke in the sun, when a lady, I guess in her '70s, came up and insisted on going to get a table and chair for me. We got chatting (her English was fluent, as I think she said she’d been a teacher in Paris for a lot of her life) and after about 10 mins I eventually clocked it this was Laurence — Lulu and Lucien's daughter. And so, as I was about to leave, I thought I might as well ask: if her mum was awake, whether she'd mind signing my bottle of 2017 Domaine Tempier 'Pour Lulu'…
I had intended to take my copy of the utterly wonderful Lulu's Provençal Table, just in case she might be able to sign that. So the bottle more than made up for the fact that I forgot to pack the book.
Lulu died almost exactly a year later, at the grand old age of 102, and having left quite her mark on the world of wine and food. Santé!
by cotedupy