Gilles Goujon: “Nature will do its job, but we need to help it”
Between August 5 and 28, 2025, nearly 18,000 hectares of the Corbières mountain range went up in smoke, including part of the heart of Fontjoncouse, where Gilles Goujon (5 toques) opened his restaurant in 1992. A year later, he takes stock of the situation and looks to the future as he gazes at the mountains, still blackened by fire, where, here and there, nature is reclaiming its place.
GAULT&MILLAU We’re on the hills above Fontjoncouse (Aude), where you live; the Auberge du Vieux Puits is located below us. All around us is a panoramic view of the Corbières, but it’s no longer the one you used to know.
Gilles Goujon: Everything was green before the fire. Right there, down the hill, there were little oak trees, arbutus trees, junipers… It was magnificent—so dense you couldn’t even walk through it—and the wild boars feasted on it! Up there, it was full of rosemary, thyme, and lavender that I used to go pick. It all burned down… Here, I have a little savory [sarriette], which we’re going to replant. That’s all we have left.
Let’s go back to August 5, 2025, the day the fire started…
G.J.: I was away at the time, and circumstances forced me to organize the evacuation remotely a few hours before the order was given. The fire was forty kilometers away, but we couldn’t wait. There were seventy people on the premises, including guests, and more than fifty cars. The firefighters were arriving just as the guests were leaving in the middle of the afternoon. It was the right moment—otherwise, everyone would have been trapped.
What was your state of mind at the time?
G.J.: On the phone, I was reassuring everyone, saying, “No, it’s not going to burn…,” and I was truly convinced of it! I’d always considered the place to be safe, and it seemed impossible to me that it could catch fire. Some places burn regularly every fifteen to thirty years. Here, never. This is the first time in Fontjoncouse.
