Le Figaro: "He has just returned from a round-the-world sail and produces one of Bandol's finest rosés: a fascinating encounter with Jean d'Arthuys".

"With wine, as with sailing, you have to learn to tame patience", Jean d'Arthuys. Laura Stevens

He's a man who floats between two worlds. He's there, though, azure eyes planted in yours, dimples ambushed, laughter and anecdotes cascading. But something infinitely absent shrouds his presence. Probably because Jean d'Arthuys, entrepreneur and former boss of Paris Première, W9 and the Girondins de Bordeaux, has just returned from an experience at the very edge of humanity: the Ocean Globe Race, ex-Whitbread. A mythical sailing race, its course circumnavigates the globe with stopovers, taking in the Southern Ocean, the Roaring Forties and the Howling Fifties. Its special feature: it accepts no human or technical assistance, no computers or satellites. Sea racing at its most noble, most extreme and most dangerous. His boat, the Triana, a Swan 53 - with its large flocked sail bearing the name Terrebrune, the Bandol appellation vineyard owned by Jean d'Arthuys - set sail from Southampton on September 10 and returned seven months later, third in the race, having covered 27,000 miles (around 45,000 kilometers). Sheltered under the floorboards, six bottles of Terrebrune - two rosés, two reds and two whites - are on hand to observe their ageing in these extreme conditions.

Sailing, wine: why choose between these two passions when, since childhood, they have animated you with a perpetual inner fire, marrying each other at every moment? On the one hand, sailing. Jean d'Arthuys was 10 years old when his parents enrolled him in the Sea Scouts. Every summer, he sailed for three weeks in Brittany with his group, the Charcot. That's where I learned the basics: how to plot a sea route using the Cras ruler, how to decipher charts, how to calculate tides...".

At the age of 18, he was waiting for Olivier de Kersauson on the sofa in the lobby of RTL, where the sailor was recording the program Les Grosses Têtes, and said to him, "Can I sail the Whitbread with you ? It wasn't to be this time, but Kersauson contacted him again and later hired him as a crew member for the Jules Verne trophy. At the same time, Jean d'Arthuys' father, a great lover of wine, introduced his (grown) children to its taste and mysteries. Jean d'Arthuys fondly remembers his father's 18th birthday present: a case of Château La Lagune 1966.

Jean d'Arthuys' second passion, wine, is born. In 2020, it will take root on the shores of the Mediterranean, in the heart of the 35 hectares of Mourvèdre, Bandol's king grape variety, planted in the Trias massif. "I fell in love with the Domaine de Terrebrune , firstly because Reynald Delille, with whom I have a 50% partnership, produces excellent wines. Secondly, because I find it interesting to put a small appellation on the podium and to be part of a family culture." An alumnus of HEC, he also attended the Université du Vin to hone his skills.

Land and wine; sea and sail: for him, there's no antagonism, rather an intimate concordance: "There are similarities between the two. First of all, the relationship with time. You have to tame patience: let the grapes ripen as the seasons go by ; and know how to wait for the wind to rise before inflating the sail. Then there's the link with nature. Vines depend on external conditions, fearing frost, cold and drought. It's the same when you're at sea, subject to the moods of the ocean. And then there's the world of passionate people, who go to great lengths to achieve their goals.

Yet the sea proves far more dangerous than the vine. "During the race, it was tough 80% of the time: split sleep, freeze-dried food, no shower for 50 days. But above all, the fear of man overboard. As the skipper responsible for my crew of seven - including five young people under 30 - that was my terror."

No one can return from this superhuman experience unscathed. That's why, when he comes ashore, he still feels a little "afloat", as he puts it so nicely. "At sea, for seven months, we had no information, we were immersed in a raw, wild and beautiful nature. Since my return, I've been struck by the madness of the world. At the same time, I feel immense joy at having realized my childhood dream." Jean d'Arthuys is now one of the 1,300 sailors to have rounded Cape Horn. His Triana, the smallest of the boats entered, won this mythical milestone. " It's the only time we've ever uncorked a bottle of Terrebrune ! Robin Knox-Johnston, the English Tabarly, a sailing legend, called me to say 'Welcome to the Club'."

So what's next for Jean d'Arthuys? Let the crashing waves fade from his dreams, develop Yourdesk, his coworking network, find Terrebrune, increase his white production (now at 20%, compared to 40% red and 40% rosé). And then, look out over the shimmering Mediterranean beyond the vines. It's not the man who takes to the sea...

This article is taken from F, l'art de vivre in Le Figaro.

Read the article on www.lefigaro.fr

By Marie-noëlle Demay

Published on 07/14/2024