THE WILDLIFE
Since our property is located in a nature reserve, we are spoiled by the abundance of furry and feathered forest fauna. Wild boars, deer, peregrine falcons, bearded vultures, Grand duc owls, Boneli eagles – all make their homes here.
Hedgehogs
Though neither furry nor feathered, the spiny hedgehog is comfortably at home on the Domaine. According to medieval historians they flourish in vineyards. By rolling on fallen grapes they pick up the fruit and take it home to feed their young.
Look carefully on the Chêne Bleu label and you will find a greedy hedgehog with his juicy burden of grapes.
The Wild Boar
The Lord of the Woods is undeniably the much mythologized Wild Boar. Loathed and loved locally, he is nonetheless the mascot of our area.
Oak trees
Very characteristic of these woods and our property, their gnarly twisted branches reflect the arduous weather and water conditions of our rugged land. Marco Nucera, the tree sculptor whose creations fill the property, has sculpted dead oaks into beautiful creations to highlight their natural charms and give them a second life.
Poppies
Poppies overtake our fields and vineyard in the Spring and remain a defining aspect of the Provencal landscape. The local variety, papaver somniferum, has long been used for its sleep-inducing virtues.
Lavender
Our fields are planted with lavandin, known for the purity of its scent. We harvest and distill our lavender crop in July, then use its essence year-round as a home fragrance and soothing bath oil.
Olives
The 60-plus trees in our olive grove offer some delectably different oils. We like to mix the local Tanche variety of
Nyons, known for its delicate flavor, with the more robust and fruity Picholine, Verdale and Salonenque olives to create a delicious flavor.
Sunflowers
Though Van Gogh sealed the fate of the sunflowers as incontrovertible symbols of Provence, their mystique dates back to Greek mythology, when Helios, God of the Sun, transformed his mistress Clydia into a Helianthus so she would forever turn toward the sun.
Worshipped by the Aztecs, the sunflower is a cousin of the Jerusalem artichoke and every part of the plant has an economic or medicinal use.
