Franck Lihour

Franck Lihour is the winemaker at the helm of Domaine Castéra, a highly promising estate that is already well established in the region. Following in the footsteps of his parents, Pierrette and Christian, Franck returned to the estate in 2014. After earning his diploma in viticulture and oenology, he honed his craft far from Béarn, working in Corsica, Burgundy, and Champagne, as well as South Africa and Napa Valley. But the call of the land was too strong, and in the Lihour family, winemaking is passed down from father to son—Castéra was founded in 1750, and the Lihour family took it over in… 1885! Franck manages his 11.5 ha, perched on hillsides at an altitude of 300 meters, using organic farming methods combined with “dogma-free” biodynamic practices, as he puts it. The estate consists of 4 parcels divided into 19 micro-parcels—all vinified separately. We were blown away by the quality of the wines, which offer an incredibly precise interpretation of Jurançon’s complex terroirs.