A collaborative bottling from Romain Le Bars and Nicolas Renaud (Clos des Grillons), Les Nuits de Java blends Grenache and Cinsault from two sites in the Gard. The Tavel component undergoes carbonic maceration and direct press, while the fruit from “La Côte” is direct-pressed. Farmed organically and made with minimal intervention: whole-cluster fermentations, native yeasts, and aging in neutral vessels. Bottled without fining, filtration, or added sulfur.
The fruit is omnipresent, bursting with freshness, with notes of wild berries and aromatic herbs. A generous, energetic framework unfolds, supported by impeccable balance, leaving the palate with a round, harmonious finish.
Romain Le Bars
Romain Le Bars is part of a band of young vignerons (Valentin Valles, Sébastien Chatillon, Gregory Guillaume, and Charles Soulier) who are putting the deep southern Rhône/Gard on the natural wine map in a significant way. Romain works a minuscule 1.5-hectare vineyard and had his first harvest in 2018. Before bottling his first vintage, he spent 7 years working for Tavel legend Eric Pfifferling (Domain L’Anglore) and that influence is evident in the glass! The wines are mostly blends of Grenache and Syrah, vinified in used wood barrels, that are either carbonically macerated or direct press. These are light, zero-zero wines made in the same spirit as his former employer. In other words, light in color and powerful in expression! Romain is certainly a name to pay attention to as these tiny production wines have garnered an immediate following!
Le Clos des Grillons
Nicolas Renaud is a geologist born and raised in the Rhône. For many years, he taught geology at university, tending vines on the side. In 2005, he began renting his own vines, and in the meantime has cultivated a mosaic of parcels – in and around Rochefort du Gard – with unique bedrocks, soils, and long-forgotten vines. His wines are the perfect physical analog to the breadth of knowledge he brings to the vineyard. Working organically, Nicolas shows what the magnificent terroir of the Rhône has to offer.
It's impossible not to be charmed by Mr. Renaud. There's a comical element at his core that endears you to him and to his project. Nicolas's great gift (and great weakness) is that he simply cannot help himself. Every year, every visit, there's a story about a new little parcel that charmed him and demanded its own fermentation. He's fascinated. He is madly in love with his work and his terroir. He's a winemaker of such experience and prowess, and yet I think his name falls to the wayside because of the scope and breadth of his endeavor. One year he introduces a wine from pure limestone, then a wine from some purchased Picpoul, then a small but interesting plot of old vine Syrah, all with new names and labels that make the domaine a bit of a puzzle, but a happy one. There's always more to explore, and always new ways to be excited.
