Additional Info

A note from Franck Lihour:

"The idea of 'looking elsewhere' had been in my mind for several vintages. The domaine’s limited production and increasing demand for our wines led me to this reflection. Then, the 2023 vintage and its abundant mildew pushed me over the edge and it was decided. A négoce was created.

The initial purpose of the négoce is to better understand our appellation, whose interest has been resurging in recent years. Jurançon, historically an area of polyculture, does not yet have the same level of knowledge as other more viculture-centric regions do. However, in our Pyrenean foothills, the soils, exposures, and varieties are very unique and understanding them better has always been our objective.

So I went looking for unfamiliar terroirs that interested me…The sunny terroirs of Cuqueron, the Flysches of Lasseube, the puddingues of Jurançon and the molasses of Monein. The majority of these producers are in polyculture, working with the living, with fertizilers, manures and composts. As always, the priority is to work with healthy grapes so to make good wine.

And to express these unique terroirs, there have been no radical changes, no new styles, no new winemaking methods, I stick to what I know how to do. Wines with identity and terroir.

The grapes were harvested by hand, pressed at Domaine Castéra and vinified by terroir, without sulfur and with ambient yeasts. Everything is then assembled and bottled.

In summary, grapes from elsewhere vinified according to my philosophy. And what better way to represent this than to draw the map of Jurançon in watercolor. This is, in a few words, how Autres Pentes (Other Slopes) was born."