Port-Cros National Park
"The Navicelle estate is an environment, a very pronounced terroir, and it is these elements that we try to marry with an ecological policy."

Overlooking the village of Le Pradet, the Domaine de la Navicelle and its twenty-one hectares of vines are managed with respect for ecosystems, fauna and flora. The vineyard, which is inspired by the fundamental principles of biodynamics, has been certified in Organic Agriculture since 2014 and in High Environmental Value since 2019.

Romain Magnanou, the estate's operations manager, tells us about his job and his career.

I manage the activity of the domain in its entirety, but more specifically the production part, that is to say the viticultural follow-up. The vegetative growth, the behaviour of the vines, the efficient behaviour of the soil, which is very important for us. I take care of the follow-up of the wines, the vinification, the blending... I also work in partnership with our sales manager, Alice Euvrard. We can say that my time is composed of about 70% of technical activities, and 30% of commercial activities in partnership with my colleague Alice.

Counting my years of study, I have been in the wine business since 2000. I am originally from Bordeaux, where I did all my studies in wine, in BTS viticulture-oenology in Blanquefort in the Médoc. I then entered a business school with a specialization in wine to validate the commercial activity of the sector. Shortly after, I started working for a wine merchant in Bordeaux, the Ginestet house. I also did my training in Bordeaux, at Château Latour Martillac, which is a grand cru classé in Pessac-Léognan.

It was in Tourves (in the Var) that I took off a little more from a technical point of view: I had the opportunity there to take care of Château Lafoux as technical manager in the Var hillsides. I stayed there for two and a half years, until another opportunity came along: I was lucky enough to be in charge of the Château des Anglades in Hyères for a little over 10 years. And for about a year and a half, I have succeeded Jannick Utard as operations manager of the Domaine de la Navicelle.

We are in organic culture: this conditions our viticultural approach, our vinifications. We have the particularity to accentuate our reasoning, our reflection towards biodynamic principles, notably through everything that impacts the soil. We try to integrate the aspects of biodynamics in our way of working.

The first objective of La Navicelle is really to reduce its ecological impact. The viticulture is perfectly integrated in the ecological system, and we discover that there are many common points between a National Park and the viticulture activity.

The environment of Navicelle is to be discovered because we are really in an exceptional setting. It's a place that is still unknown, a bit remote in the Colle Noire massif. The estate is perfectly integrated there, it draws its roots, its terroir. This notion of terroir is very important to us, and it is directly reflected in the quality of the wines. The Domaine de la Navicelle is an environment, a very pronounced terroir, and it is these elements that we try to marry with an important ecological policy.

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Domaine de la Navicelle © Muriel Gasquy – Parc national de Port-Cros
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Domaine de la Navicelle
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© Muriel Gasquy – Parc national de Port-Cros
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Romain Magnanou © Domaine de la Navicelle
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Romain Magnanou
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© Domaine de la Navicelle
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© Domaine de la Navicelle
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Domaine de la Navicelle
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© Domaine de la Navicelle
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Romain Magnanou © Domaine de la Navicelle
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Romain Magnanou
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© Domaine de la Navicelle

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