JPlease excuse me if I seem to nitpick, but I like to dot the “i”s and remove the phantom accents: Luberon does not have an acute accent. And if the dictionary admits the pronunciation “Lubéron”, the locals speak of their beautiful “Lubeuron”. This usual deformation would come from the Provençal diction “Louberoun”. Nevertheless, you would be very urban to stick to the terroir and to prefer the Luberon to the Lubéron.
With or without an accent, the Luberon is a land of dreams, between the Alps and Vaucluse. The vineyard is located in the heart of the natural park and grows between 200 and 500 meters above sea level, which makes it a mid-mountain vineyard, exactly like that of the Jura and that of Savoie. This comparison may be surprising, but it is important because it allows us to understand why the wines of this appellation differ from those of Provence or the Côtes-du-Rhône, even though the vineyard, flat on a map, seems to be a union between the two. Limestone outcrops everywhere, which reinforces its rocky side. As for the climate, the Luberon enjoys both a Mediterranean influence, with its heat and sunshine, and a continental influence, with its cool nights. This thermal amplitude between day and night, particularly in summer, benefits the grapes and guarantees them a fair balance which tends towards elegance. Freshness in the mouth, above all, which prepares for what is to come.
Blend of at least two grape varieties
Today, half of the appellation’s wines are rosé (54% exactly), the rest being shared equally between red and white (23% each). But this proportion is set to change radically over the next ten years. With its freshness that clashes in the region, the Luberon dreams of being a great land of whites. It even has the ambition to become a true white cru of the Rhone Valley (its wines are administratively linked to it).
“Since the birth of the Luberon appellation in 1988, our whites have been sought after by the major Rhone wine merchants as the region’s major asset. All our white wines are sold before September », explains Sylvain Morey, vice-president of the Defense and Management Organization (ODG) of the Luberon. Between 2005 and 2017, rosé has become the workhorse of the area, fashion obliges. “But since 2017, the arrival of a craze for more digestible, fresher wines has put our whites back in the spotlight”, continues the winegrower. It is still necessary to ensure a grape variety adapted to climatic evolution.
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