The sky is low this August morning over the Béarn. In the distance, the chain of the Pyrenees with the Pic du Midi d’Ossau majestically playing hide and seek behind a thick veil of clouds. Jean-Baptiste Semmartin, the former fencer of the French team, slowly climbs the slope that separates the vines he operates in Lucq-de-Béarn (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) in the Jurançon appellation. Bronze medalist at the 2005 French Championships and third in the 2006 World Team Cup, the former swordsman made a 180 degree turn after his retirement from sports to become a winegrower.
At the time, 14 years ago, the former resident of Insep had a master’s certificate in his pocket and a career as a teacher of physical education and sports which opened up to him. “But I couldn’t stand the gymnasiums in competition any longer,” says this sturdy 41-year-old guy whose grandfather was a beekeeper. I needed to get out, I was looking for the great outdoors. So I agreed to start all over in the wine. “
In Tarbes where Jean-Baptiste grew up and discovered fencing at the Amicale Tarbaise, an illustrious club where the Touya family was formed, the news did not surprise his fencing master René Geuna. “Jean-Baptiste was an excellent swordsman, a left-handed, tall and powerful,” recalls the educator. But there was something missing, there are times when you have to be mean. You have to want to light the lamp before the other. JB has never been like this. When we went on the move, I liked to introduce the children to the cities where we were. Jean-Baptiste was a contemplative, he loved the beautiful. “
Viticulture respectful of the environment
The neovemaker, with a bright gaze and a warm welcome – he does not hesitate to have his wines tasted in the middle of his vines – agrees. If he has never reached the very high level – he was a substitute for the Sydney Olympics in 2000 – it is mental strength more than technique that has failed him. “I was in the top 5 or 6 French, but never in the top 2, remembers the Bigourdan. I never passed the gap, I didn’t have the mind to go over it. In the end, I could see it was going to be hot for me and I didn’t want to get fired. “The discovery of the world of wine will give him a way out.
After a diploma course in BTS in Bordeaux and an internship at Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste in Pauillac, he became a cellar worker in Collioure then studied with Emmanuel Giboulot, biodynamic winegrower from Beaune (Côte d’Or), known for refusing to treat his vines chemically against flavescence dorée, defying a prefectural decree. Sentenced at first instance, the Burgundian winegrower was finally released on appeal.
It is there, during these three years of apprenticeship between 2009 and 2012 that the former swordsman will learn the principles of environmentally friendly viticulture. Precepts that he applies today to the Lajibe estate (his nickname in the world of fencing), on his 3 ha of vines treated with copper (at a very reduced dose), herbal tea, etc.
“Despite his past as a high-level athlete, Jean-Baptiste was never someone who sought competition, but he was always in search of performance, remembers Emmanuel Giboulot. He was still thinking: if we make such and such a surface in so much time, how many hectoliters? But with us I think he understood above all that we were part of the long term. “
“Sport has taught me that it takes time, and accepting to work slowly and well”
Semmartin agrees with his tutor on this point. “For 3 years, I stored up a lot of tastes and ways of doing things. Burgundy was very important, because I knew how I wanted to make wine, analyzes the Tarbais which completed its training at the Cauhapé estate in Jurançon. Sport has taught me that it takes time, and accepting to work slowly and well. And then there is the quality of observation, understanding your opponent. Even if in sport, the opponent is more inside of you. “
In the vines, the adversary is called mildew, frost, hail or drought as in the last harvest. So many parameters that can put months and months of work at risk. “I also draw from my past as a former top athlete an ability to manage stress and maintain serenity,” continues Jean-Baptiste Semmartin. And then sometimes you don’t want to go to training. In the vineyards, it’s the same. Sometimes the weather is bad, but you go out anyway. “
This priesthood is bearing fruit today. The first two vintages of its three white wine vintages are snapping up and starred restaurants have already put it on their menu. “What I love is the energy and balance of its wines,” says Matthieu d’Hainaut sommelier of L’or Q’idée, a 1-star restaurant of Naöelle d’Hainaut, winner of the 2013 Top Chef. We have very good feedback on these wines. Customers are pleasantly surprised because it is a very little known appellation. Emmanuel Giboulot is also rave about the wines of his former apprentice. “I am amazed, because from the start it is very pure. There is a personality, a lot of light and a particular vibration, says the Burgundian winegrower. I am proud of him because it is courageous to leave a position, and to follow his passion to the end. “
Athletes have long maintained a close link with the vine. Among the most beautiful successes, we must mention that of former rugby player Gérard Bertrand. The former third line of Narbonne (1983-1992) and Stade Français (1992-94) is today at the head of 850 ha of biodynamic vines and 16 estates and châteaux in the south of France. He has made his brand a benchmark in wine marketing with 25 million bottles sold worldwide and a turnover of more than 126 million in 2018.
Christophe Dominici, also a former rugby player at Stade Français, has seen less with his 130 ha estate, “La maison Dominici”, located in Nissan-lez-Enserune, very close to Béziers in the Hérault, where he cultivates several grape varieties. . The winger of the Blues also operates with partners a brand of wines called “the eleven team wine”.
In 1987, Jean Tigana, the ex-midfielder of the Bleus and Girondins de Bordeaux acquired a wine estate in the Médoc which he then sold. Since 1999, the 1984 European champion has settled on the foothills of Cap Canaille in Cassis where he owns a renowned 15 ha estate, La Dona Tigana with 3 wines produced.
The fencer Philippe Riboud, six times medalist at the Olympic Games in Moscow, Los Angeles and Seoul bought from him in 1994, the Roubine castle in the Var which is now managed by his ex-wife, the former swordsman dedicated to other professional projects for 15 years now. Finally the latest comers, the two cyclists Axel Domont and Clément Chevrier who have just ended their careers with AG2R, have decided to embark on the wine adventure by becoming winegrowers in Savoie.
