Alexis Patri 2:00 p.m., February 12, 2022

At the microphone of Isabelle Morizet in the program "There is not just one life in life" on Saturday, comedian and actor François-Xavier Demaison looks back on his personal and professional journey.

And in particular on his new life as a winegrower, which he has been leading for four years in parallel with his life as an actor.

INTERVIEW

In his new show

Di(x)vin(s)

, François-Xavier Demaison proclaims his love of good bottles and viticulture.

A passion that he has been putting into practice for a few years at the Mirmanda estate, in Languedoc, which he recently acquired with his friend Dominique Laporte, best sommelier of France in 2004. The comedian and actor recounts his new life as a winegrower on Saturday at microphone by Isabelle Morizet, on the occasion of her invitation to the 

program Il n'y a pas qu'une vie dans la vie

.

>> Find Isabelle Morizet's shows every weekend from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Europe 1 as well as in podcast and replay here

"I had the chance to realize this dream by meeting Dominique Laporte. We both have this passion for this region of Roussillon and for its terroirs", explains François-Xavier Demaison.

"Four years ago, we said to ourselves that we were going to experience this madness of getting into wine. And we started Mirmanda, an estate located in Vingrau, opposite the Tautavel cave. These are old 80-year-old vines, old ladies who don't do them."

5,000 bottles of white and 10,000 bottles of red

This domain name of Mirmanda, François-Xavier Demaison and Dominique Laporte did not choose it.

The place was already called like that, because of a local fable.

"It's a Catalan legend that says that, when Barcelona was just a meadow, a kingdom of fairies called Mirmanda stretched not far from where we have our vines," says the actor.

"A terrible hurricane buried these fairies and this kingdom. Only certain pure-hearted shepherds can see them. From there to say that when we drink Mirmanda, we see the fairies..! We are very passionate, in any case."

Despite this poetic name, it is for the 80-year-old vines that the two friends chose to acquire this estate.

"There is an extraordinary terroir which gives us very fine cuvées. And we are increasing the volumes a little, since we started very modestly", specifies François-Xavier Demaison.

"At the beginning, we made 600 bottles of white and 600 bottles of red. Today, we are at 5,000 whites and 10,000 reds. It's not nothing."

Bottles that can be found today on several starred tables and that can be ordered online on the estate's boutique website, here.