Terres de Feu Blanc

He bought wasteland at the foot of the Albères mountains, near the Spanish border, and personally cleared the undergrowth and cultivated it.He redeveloped abandoned wasteland, which had been left untouched for decades, into vineyards. To say "redevelopment" sounds simple, but in reality, it was an immensely difficult task.

He is a figure like Marcel Lapierre of Beaujolais in Southern France, who nurtured natural wines in the region. When Jean-François Nicq arrived in Roussillon, there were hardly any natural wine producers in the area.

Now, the young natural winemakers he has mentored are sprouting up like bamboo shoots. He generously passes on his winemaking methods to these young talents. It's almost like a Jean-François school. For young winemakers, he is a figure of respect and admiration.

It is no exaggeration to say that his ability in natural winemaking is genius. He acquired this prowess while working at the Estézargues cooperative. Most existing natural winemakers only know small-scale production. Jean-François's brilliance lies in his practical experience of successfully producing large quantities of natural wine in large tanks at a cooperative winery with less-than-ideal facilities. He started at the cooperative in '89 and by '91 had reduced SO2 usage to 10mg, then achieved zero SO2 in '96.

Even a genius like Philippe Pacalet would likely find it difficult to make natural wine in a cooperative with its facilities and large tanks. Here again, one can glimpse Jean-François Nicq's brilliant practical adaptability. I was deeply impressed by his ingenuity in working with large tanks under conditions where cleanliness was not ideal.

Jean-François, who had served as cellar master at the Estézargues cooperative in the Southern Rhône for many years, shared a dream with his unparalleled friend, Eric, of Domaine Gramenon. It was a dream of establishing their own winery. However, everything changed when he visited the foothills of the Albères mountains. For Jean-François, who had originally majored in geology, encountering the diverse and complex geology and soil of this land was an experience beyond mere感動 (emotion). He felt a tremor deep in his core. This is where I will make wine! Jean-François made an immediate decision.

Ancient rock formations, called Roches Mères, that were once seabed hundreds of millions of years ago, uplifted with the Pyrenees mountains, are exposed near the surface. The surface soil contains fragmented schist, quartz stones, crystal-like pebbles, ironstone, granite, and sandy soil formed from shattered volcanic rock. He had never before seen land with such diverse and complex elements. Furthermore, at an altitude of 300 meters, with Mediterranean winds at night, there is a significant diurnal temperature variation, which helps retain acidity. The ideal wine he wanted to create was a pure wine, primarily driven by acidity yet still showing a hint of sun. This microclimate provided the perfect conditions for such winemaking. For Jean-François, there was no other place where he could dedicate the rest of his life.

He established his domaine in 2002. More than 20 years later, Jean-François's wines are now extremely difficult to obtain. His beloved partner is Yoyo, another charismatic winemaker from Roussillon.