The cooler months are The cooler months are perfect to enjoy the flavours of Provence from daube, a winesteeped beef stew to sauteed wild mushrooms and vegetable soup flavoured with herbs preserved from the summer months. Not to mention delicious desserts including oreilletes, wafer thin, orange flower flavoured, deep fried cakes, nougat and crystallised fruit. But nothing says Provence in Winter quite like truffles. exquisite Provencal specialties. Generations of truffle growers come here every year and the market attracts visitors from all over the world. It’s not easy to describe the earthy aroma that assails your nostrils – like being at the bottom of a big hole in a forest that’s been covered for a hundred years, but in a good way! And if you’re tempted to take home a truffle, you can expect to pay from €300-1300 per kilo (though a single truffle is a lot less – from €12 at the market) depending on quality. Find out more: grignanvalreas-tourism.co.uk If you want to store your truffles in olive oil, then pop to nearby Puyméras where the Vieux Moulin Farnoux is the last mill left in Vaucluse still using traditional production methods. Take a tour and tasting of the mill and it will become immediately clear why chefs clamour for the pure, simple cold-pressed ‘liquid gold’ produced here. 'Liquid gold', olive oil at Vieux Moulin Farnoux It’s thirsty work eating all this delicious food so next I recommend you head to Gigondas for a visit to the cellars of Pierre Amadieu and of course a tasting of robust reds, crisp whites and soft rosés. This lovely town was founded as a recreational site for the soldiers of the Roman Empire’s Second Legion, and legend has it that it was they who first planted the vines here. Oreilletes Vaucluse is the top producer of black truffles in France. There are truffle hubs in Carpentras, Ménerbes and the historic town of Richerenches where this year the Truffle Harvest Proclamation – which marks the official opening of the truffle season - takes place on 2nd December. The Truffle market of medieval Richerenches has been held for 100 years. It takes place each Saturday morning from November to March. And in January there’s a Truffle Mass in the 12th century church, dedicated to the Black Diamond, in which local truffle producers place a very good truffle in the collection tray as an offering. If you think this all sounds rather truffleicious – you’re not wrong. On a rather breezy Saturday morning with the Mistral wind accompanying me along Richerenche’s appropriately named Cours du Mistral, I ogled stalls piled with truffles, truffle flavoured oils, cheeses, mustards and vinegars alongside Christian Merin, truffle hunter After warming up with a bowl of truffle flavoured eggs (of course) at the cosy and delicious L’Escaspade restaurant I headed off to Valréas (8km from Richereches), to go find my own buried treasure with truffle grower Christian Merin and his friendly snuffling, truffle-hunting dogs Prune and Prisca. Prisca dashed from tree to tree sniffing and sometimes digging before dropping a truffle at Christian’s feet – at least most of the time, at one point she couldn’t resist a nibble and gulped down a small one! pepiniere-christian-merin.com A Taste of Provence. © Exquisite, all-inclusive, small group tours. “If you have ever considered culinary tourism, Goût et Voyage will be the trip of your dreams. Excellence at every turn!” DS, NY www.goutetvoyage.com 10 | The Good Life France The Good Life France | 11
