2023 'Mansengs' Sec, Mansengs et Compagnie

Jean-Baptiste Semmartin is making seriously great wines from his base in Lucq-de-Bearn, part of the historic Jurançon appellation. Despite being made far away and from different grapes, if you like the concentrated yet racy wines from Rousset-Martin or Labet in the Jura, then these could be for you. The Manseng grape provides for a bass note of Pineapple with it's 'tranchant' acidity - here it is masterfully crafted by Jean-Baptiste into wines that are artisanal and truly captivating.  

Jean Baptiste is one of my favourite discoveries of all; not part of a winemaking family he learned the craft of growing grapes and making wines a bit all over the place, starting in 2005 and working first in Bordeaux at Grand Puy Lacoste, in the Collioure, and then with Emmanuel Giboulout in Burgundy, one of the biodynamic pioneers in the region, and this is where it all fell into place. He now had his vision. 

Jean-Baptiste was a professional sportsman to begin with, playing and representing France in the national fencing team. He actually came to Sydney as a reserve for the 2020 Sydney Olympics!

He found and started producing his first vintage in 2015 but the first captivating wine came in 2017 with his first HAURE, a very mineral dry Jurançon of incredible beauty. All of the wines he produces are made from those of the region, so - Gros Manseng, Petit Manseng and Petit Courbu.

He works closely with the Estoueigt family (Domaine Larroudé), this is where his cellar is and are the parcels Haure, Carmaret and Serres-Seques. Here he was able to create the Domaine Lajibe and happily in the past few years has been joined by his partner Juliana.

The best way to describe his wines he makes is dense, intense and strikingly, deeply  mineral - always displaying super tension and vibrancy. In a word, dramatic.

Jean-Baptiste humbly attributes the quality of what he produces to the local climate and the natural acidity of the region's grape varieties. But there is far more to what is in the glass with his wines that that...

His wines are in crazy demand, Lajibe is one of the hardest wines to track down in France.
Allocations are small and so with the 2021 vintage, he launched a Negoce to sit next to the range of Domaine Lajibe wines, with the aim of exploring the diversity of the region's Mansengs. As the Domaine Lajibe wines come from a single estate, the Mansengs et Compagnie wines are not marketed under the Lajibe label, but simply bear the name of Jean-Baptiste Semmartin. 

The grapes are treated with the same care as the estate's Mansengs, and made the same way, I have seen the barrels next to each other in his cellar with my own eyes. 

These wines are the pinnacle of artisanal French craft - the only downside is that there is never very much! - Andrew Guard, Importer.