The Future of Provence. Romain Dol’s Domaine le Novi (Luberon)
Climate change is undeniable at a time when Domaine Tempier is planting Assyrtiko, Richard Olney’s nephew John is increasing his Grenache Blanc at Ridge, and the Boxlers are grafting cuttings of Syrah from Jean Gonon onto their vineyards in Alsace.
Or as Neil Degrasse Tyson put it, “The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.”
Another delicious antidote to France’s warming climate are the shockingly fresh wines of Romain Dol, whose Domaine Le Novi is in the Luberon town of La Tour d’Aigues.
Located in the heart of Provence, Domaine Le Novi sits between the Luberon hills and Montagne Sainte-Victoire, along the Durance river (a tributary of the Rhône that was created when the Pyrenees split) and benefiting from cooler nights, a greater diurnal shift allowing longer hang-time for fresher acidity/lower alcohol while still achieving phenolic maturity and greater complexity of flavors.
The fifth generation of his Domaine, Romain left home to train as an agronomist and oenologist, working in Alsace, Meursault, and with Priorat renegade René Barbier of Clos Mogador, before returning to move the Domaine to organic farming in 2014. Now certified by AB France, Romain has implemented biodynamic practices and greater experimentation in the cellar by using amphorae and cement eggs for fermentation.
Novi is mainly North and East-facing, seeing more morning sun and less afternoon sun, which means that he isn’t able to work with Mourvèdre here as in most of the region and that his Grenache Noir gets picked 12-20 days later than in nearby Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
Previous generations at Domaine Le Novi farmed a polyculture of different crops, and given the historical market for Provençal wines much of their land was dedicated to table grapes, requiring dedicated space for refrigeration which today Romain employs to drop the temperature of his wine grapes to between 2-3 C to allows for a gentler extraction, and an even greater precision in his wines.
After meeting Romain in Paris I was so taken with his wines but didn’t quite understand how they could come from Provence (most of them clock in at 12% compared to most of Bandol at over 15%) so I went to the Luberon to visit his Domaine. I fell so hard for the wines (and the Luberon) that I booked a nearby farmhouse the next summer for me and my daughter to receive our friends and family, just down the road from Romain’s farm.
Domaine Le Novi 2022 Luberon Blanc “Terre de Safres”
Domaine Le Novi 2020 Luberon Blanc “Les Soucas- Vieilles Vignes”
While only 20% of Luberon wines are white in total, they are a focus of Romain’s work, with 40% of his 25 hectares dedicated to Bourboulenc, Vermentino “Malvoisie”, Ugni Blanc, Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, Clairette Blanche, as well as some rare Clairette Pointue among the oldest gobelet parcels.
Domaine Le Novi 2022 Luberon Rouge “Terre de Safres”
Blessed with a diversity of soil types from limestone to marl, but predominantly with a unique sandstone called “safres,” which Romain points out as one of the defining characteristics of Emmanuel Reynaud’s legendary Château Rayas.
Domaine Le Novi 2019 Luberon Rouge “Les Soucas- Vieilles Vignes”