Rugby player Gérard Bertrand, tennis player Michaël Llodra and footballer Antoine Devaux have all experienced, in their sport, the exhilaration of competition at the highest level. Once their careers were over, they retrained in wine and now work in complementary professions. But whether it is producing, selling or offering bottles to be tasted in restaurants, these champions have a professional life not unrelated to their sporting memories.
Gérard Bertrand: “I was a rugby player-winemaker”
The ex-rugby player, at the head of seventeen estates in Languedoc, is one of the largest wine producers in the world.
“In 1987, when my father died in a road accident, I was 22 years old and I took over his wine property in Corbières. I was playing at a very high level then, in Narbonne, but I needed a job. So I became a “rugbyman-winemaker” until I was 30.
My father always told me that wine and rugby are the same, that a thousand and one details tip the scales one way or the other. It’s true, each vintage is like a new match, we never do the same thing again, and that’s why it’s exciting. In rugby too, there is no easy match, it’s a challenge every Sunday. With three hundred matches in the first division, I learned not to give up in the face of adversity and to seek excellence.
Read also | Wines: Gérard Bertrand, the mark of success
Add to your selections
All this nourished me for my life after. For example, when I decided to switch to biodynamics, because it is the best for soil life and for the planet, it was quite a gamble in the early 2000s. You n Can’t imagine the criticism I’ve heard… Today, we are the world leader with 1,000 certified hectares. Our wines benefit from biodynamics: the pH has dropped, the acidity has increased, this offers better freshness.
The winegrower has a physical connection to his land, since he seeks to deliver the taste of a terroir, and it’s the same as rugby – we don’t play the same way in Bayonne, Narbonne or Clermont-Ferrand! This is the reason why I have always experienced wine as a collective adventure: you never get the quintessence of a blend alone. So I work directly with my cellar master. Of course, like when I was captain, I know how to assume leadership over my 450 employees. But wine, like rugby, remains first and foremost team work. »
Michaël Llodra: “I went to the last Roland-Garros with lots of bottles in my bag”
You have 64.46% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
