DOMAINE HAUVETTE

DOMINIQUE HAUVETTE

Provence, France

Not far from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, nestled among the foothills of Les Alpilles, you’ll find Domaine Hauvette. In the early 1980s, Dominique Hauvette left her job as a lawyer in the Savoie, to re-discovered her passion for raising horses, and began studying oenology. Thirty-some years later, Dominique now has 17 hectares of vines and an international reputation for making benchmark natural wines.

She started biodynamic conversion in 2000, with the main focus always to make wine as naturally as possible. In the cellar, she adopts a non-interventionist approach, keeping the winemaking very low-tech, yet she is not afraid to experiment as is evidenced by her being one of the first winemakers to use concrete fermentation eggs.

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BACKGROUND OF NATURAL WINE IN PROVENCE

The Provence wine region is located in southern France and renowned for its rosé wines and picturesque vineyards nestled among lavender fields and olive groves. This Mediterranean climate region benefits from abundant sunshine and cooling Mistral winds, creating ideal conditions for grape cultivation like Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, and Cinsault. Provence's popularity stems not only from its delightful wines but also its rich cultural heritage, stunning landscapes, and the region's association with leisurely Mediterranean lifestyle, making it a sought-after destination for wine enthusiasts and travellers alike.

Organic, Biodynamic and Natural wine. What’s the difference?

To understand this concept and its various ramifications, it is necessary to keep something clear in mind: before the 20th century and the spreading of affordable synthetic fertilisers, all farming was organic. When the shift to the use of synthetics and pesticides happened, it became necessary to diversify traditional organic farming from the new modern farming. 


ORGANIC WINE

Simply put, organic farming forbids the use of synthetic fertilisers, synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or genetically modified organisms. The basic requirements are generally specific and engage the farmers not to use any chemical fertilisers and other synthetic products in the vineyard. It does not prevent the vintner from using the conventional winemaking process after harvesting. 


BIODYNAMIC WINE

Let’s take organic farming one step further: Biodynamic. The creator of this agricultural system is the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, who developed the principles of biodynamics in a series of lectures given in 1924 in Germany. Here lies the foundation of true organic wines, with a strict limit in the use of additives, stringent requirements and at the end obtaining a biodynamic certification.


NATURAL WINE

The previous definitions are usually, and rightfully, associated with it, because most natural wine is also organic and/or biodynamic. But not vice versa!

Natural wine is wine in its purest form, simply described as nothing added, nothing taken away, just grapes fermented. No manipulation whatsoever, minimal intervention both in the vineyards and in the winery. Healthy grapes, natural yeast and natural fermentation, with no filtration nor fining. Sounds easy, right? However, making natural wine is unforgiving and it requires a bigger amount of work than conventional wine. To this day, natural wine has no certification yet.