Manseng and Company

Jean-Baptiste Semmartin, former fencer with the French national fencing team, has chosen to return to the land of his birth to devote himself to winegrowing in Jurançon. His passion for tastes, smells and nature steered him towards viticulture rather than gastronomy. After his sports career, he acquired a solid training by working in prestigious estates such as Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Collioure with Emmanuel Giboulot, and at Domaine Cauhapé. Jean-Baptiste quickly adopted biodynamic viticulture as his working philosophy, convinced of its benefits for vines and terroir. In 2018, after extensive research, he settled in Jurançon, on a 2.5-hectare tenant farm on the land of Domaine Larroudé in Lucq-de-Béarn, at the westernmost point of the appellation. Today, he vinifies 8 hectares of vines over a hundred years old. His estate is Demeter-certified, guaranteeing environmentally-friendly farming practices. Jean-Baptiste Semmartin also does a little négoce, enabling him to diversify his production. A particularity of his methods is double disbudding, a technique which involves removing superfluous buds a second time to concentrate the vine's resources on the remaining bunches. In the cellar, he uses no modern technology, preferring traditional methods. His wines are unfiltered and sulfite-free, and renowned for their remarkable precision. He works mainly with Gros Manseng and Petit Manseng in barrels.