Domaine Hauvette

Dominique Hauvette, an extraordinary winemaker

The only girl in a family of six children and a graduate in rural law, Dominique Hauvette spent the beginning of her life between Paris and Val-D'isère where her parents were restaurant owners. In 1984, she went on holiday for a month to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence; she never went back.

Four years later, she bought two hectares of vines near the Alpilles and that's how she learned the trade, little by little, "on the job", and helped by local winemakers like Eloi Dürrbach (Trévallon) and Laurent Vaillé (La Grange des Pères). In 2020, Dominique was awarded the prize for the winemaker of the year by the Revue des Vins de France.

Particularities of the Hauvette estate

Located on the northern slopes of the Alpilles, in the commune of Saint Rémy de Provence, between the two appellations of Côteaux d'Aix-en-Provence and Baux-de-Provence, Domaine Hauvette is an estate of some 15 hectares of vines, which produces an average of 40,000 bottles per year.

These 15 hectares of the plantation evolve on clay-limestone soils. Rich in fossilised shells, these soils retain water, provide nutrients and give the wine texture and colour.

In the Hauvette estate, two red wines and one white wine are produced. For example, the Hauvette Cornaline cuvée is an emblematic cuvée of the Hauvette estate. It is a blend of grenache, syrah and cabernet sauvignon, three grape varieties grown on the estate, along with cinsault and carignan in the reds. The whites have their own particularities due to the grape varieties from which they are made (roussanne, marsanne, clairette). In fact, in Provence, the whites are often made from the rolle grape.

Specific viticulture choices

Dominique Hauvette attaches great importance to the authenticity of the terroir and has embarked on organic farming. In fact, since 2003, Dominique has chosen a biodynamic growing method. The aim is to adopt an approach that is closer to nature in order to preserve as much as possible the singularity of the estate.

This sensitivity to organic farming can also be seen in the vinification techniques used on the estate: total de-stemming, infusion of the berries, vinification without sulphur... This demanding choice of organic farming obliges Dominique Hauvette to protect his vines in a sustainable way and to implement tools that are both effective and respectful of the origin of the soil and the authenticity of the terroir, in order to produce, in the end, great red wines.