The estate Domaine de Gardanne

In the 19th century Gardanne was a farm with sheep , goats, olives and grapes.
At that time the hills between Grasse and Draguignan were planted with olive trees.
1956 was a very cold winter with temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius during several days. Most olive trees did not survive this shock.
Most farmers abandoned olive culture and as a consequence the terraces were not maintained anymore, pines invaded the olive field and the stone walls began to deteriorate
Farmers left the farm and started to work in the industry and often the buildings became ruins as it happened to Gardanne.

The Mas de Gardanne has been renovated in the eighties and a dam has been built at that time creating a lake which serves today as the principal source of water.
As the olive trees have been dominated by pines it has been decided to restore the southern face of the hill i.e. to cut the pines and to reconstruct the terraces with the stone walls and to plant aromatic plants on the slopes between the terraces.
On the terraces local varieties of olive trees have been planted and they are growing amazingly well.

Our vision is to produce an olive oil of very high quality with a typical taste of the region and at the same time respecting the environment. The harvest in November and December is done by hand picking in order to avoid any damage to the fruit before pressing. The mixture of different varieties gives a characteristique taste depending also on the climatic conditions during the year.

Every season requires the fulfillment of specific tasks. End of August we dry figues by exposing them to the sunlight on a mat of bambus. Once the figues are dry we heat them for a short period in the oven which gives the caramel taste so much appreciated by everybody during the wintertime.

In October and November the collection of mushrooms on and around the property allows to enrich the cuisine. The most common species are: chanterelles, cêpes, sanguins, oronges, coulemelles.

There would be much more to talk about but we stop here so you can discover yourself many more gifts from nature.

© 2006 / 2007 Domaine de Gardanne. All rights reserved and protected   Email: gardannecallas(at)yahoo.fr   - Tel : + 33 (0)6 74 37 41 65
Last update 01/09/2006 - Glossary - Partners - Links - Webmaster : ghost-pc-buster