Local produce

Wine

The wine-growing area of the Hérault Valley is part of the larger Languedoc wine-growing region, the oldest in France. The red wines produced here are meaty, tannic wines with a deep red colour.

Wine tasters describe their aromas as evoking red fruits and even leather or chocolate! The grape types used are mainly mourvèdre, syrah, grenache, carigan and cinsault.

Although traditionally renowned for its reds, the region also produces lighter wines with floral notes, wines made from a single grape variety, light reds fermented on the skins for just one night, and new season's wines. The rosé wines produced here are rounded and fruity, whilst the whites are fresh and aromatic.

But above all, wine is a culture, and one that is celebrated in numerous local events, including grape-picking festivals, celebrations of the new season's wines, cellar open days, wine shows, tastings and special offers.

A Competition for prize-winning wines in the Hérault Valley has rewarded the best wines every year since 1986, and has both national and European accreditation.

Olives

The epitome of a natural product, olives are the basis of the colourful cooking of the Mediterranean.
If we're going to talk about olives, first we need to introduce a fine young lady who's a mere 300 hundred years old: la Lucques. First discovered in the 18th century, the variety was given a promising name by the Abbé Rozier: "Oléa Europeae Odorata". The long, crescent-shaped fruits are highly prized for producing olive-based products, because the stones are easily removed from their fine, delicately-flavoured flesh. This variety grows best in the Hérault, and is native to the area. It's something of a local celebrity, either eaten as it is or turned into a wide variety of products, including oil, tapenade (an olive paste flavoured with capers, garlic and anchovies), olive bread, and many more.

Olives grown to be used for oil, the main variety of which in the Hérault is the verdale, are left on the trees throughout the autumn to ripen slowly, as they swap their green suits for an elegant little black dress. Harvesting starts at the end of November for the early varieties, at which point the first oil of the year is pressed. Olive oil, the basis of the Mediterranean diet, adds flavour to our cooking and keeps us healthy at the same time.

Historians tell us that as far back as the 16th and 17th centuries, the peasants of the Hérault Valley used to sell olive oil to the people living in the mountains of Auvergne, Rouergue and the Cévennes... just as we do to tourists today!

Cheese

Most of our local cheeses are made from goat's or ewe's milk. The variety of shapes (logs, flat disks and little round cheeses such as Pélardon and Pérail) and range of different flavours will delight cheese lovers as a snack with an aperitif, in cooking or at the end of a meal with a glass of good wine!
Pélardon, made from goat's milk and a local cheese par excellence, is made in the Hérault Valley in the sun-soaked, headily aromatic garrigue. It is matured over a long period to reveal its depth of flavour.
Pérail, a ewe's milk cheese with its origins on the limestone plateau of Larzac, is also made in the Hérault Valley. Made from unpasteurised milk to which rennet is added, left to ripen on wicker racks and turned regularly during the maturing process (a minimum of 1 week), the cheese has a fat content of 45 to 50%, and is made from whole milk. Young Pérail has a soft consistency with a fresh, subtle, smooth taste; more mature cheeses, kept for 10 to 15 days, have a sharper flavour and are runny in texture.

You'll find a full range of local produce for sale from the producers in our villages markets and at local food festivals. Or why not choose an "assiette de pays" dish when you eat in one of our local restaurants? Restaurateurs who display this label work in partnership with farmers to share the quality and flavours of our local produce with people from the surrounding area and with visitors, giving it the pride of place it deserves.