AIGUES-MORTES: SEA SALT & SEE SALT

Posted on March 22, 2014December 30, 2015 by Susan Manfull

My dear friend and fellow blogger, David of Cocoa & Lavender, is a self-proclaimed salt-addict. When discussing his current post—in which he makes public his intimate relationship with salt—I recommended a trip to Aigues-Mortes. There is salt for him—literally everywhere but especially at Salin d’Aigues-Mortes—and history and architecture—a fortified city considered “the purest example of 13th-century military architecture”—for his partner, affectionately known as “Markipedia.” And, when ...

LA CAMARGUE SAUVAGE

Posted on March 16, 2014February 13, 2016 by Susan Manfull

When you’ve tired of charming hilltop villages in the Luberon and swanky restaurants along the French Riviera, don your jeans and cowboy boots and head to the Camargue. (Forgot your boots? Pas de problème. You can pick up a pair in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.) Although I quickly grow bored with swank, I have to confess I am rarely tired of charm, especially in the Luberon—I just wanted to grab your attention to promote the Camargue, an area so radically different from the rest of Pr...

PROVENCE ROSÉ: TASTING AND TRAVEL NOTES FROM “PROVENCE IN THE CITY 2014”

Posted on March 9, 2014January 15, 2016 by Susan Manfull

Provence—today, the very word conjures up images of sipping rosé: on the beaches of the Côte d’Azur, by the pool of a handsome mas nestled into the garrigue-covered hills in the Luberon, in outdoor cafés along Cours Mirabeau in Aix-en-Provence, with bouillabaisse in Marseille’s vieux port, and, for some folks, in yachts docked at St. Tropez. Mon dieu, rosé was born in Provence and, well, bred there, too. The Greeks introduced rosé when they arrived in Marseille, some 2500 years ago. They plan...

MARTIGUES—THE VENICE OF PROVENCE—IS A PICTURESQUE STOP FOR LUNCH & A STROLL

Posted on March 2, 2014December 30, 2015 by Susan Manfull

Martigues was a magnet for painters in the 19th- and early 20th-century. Painters from the schools of French Romanticism, Barbizon, and even Fauvism were drawn to the charm of this picturesque port and its luminous colors. Today, the “Venice of Provence,” still lovely and luminous and now also known for its flowers and gardens, may capture your heart, too. It is off the beaten path of the typical tourist, but well worth a stop if you are in the area. Located just 21 kilometers (15...

ROUSSILLON: BRING YOUR CAMERA, PAINTBRUSHES, AND BASKET FOR THE MARKET

Posted on February 23, 2014February 13, 2016 by Susan Manfull

Roussillon is designated as one of "Les Plus Beaux Villages de France," and with good reason. Its brilliant array of colors--reds, oranges, greens, and blues of seemingly every shade--is enough to beckon even the most weary traveler. As one approaches this village, along D227 from the east (my favorite drive in), the verdant green landscape meets the bright orange ochre cliffs and offers contrasts striking in their beauty. The typically cloudless blue skies of this part of Provence offer the ...

SACHA LICHINE TALKS ABOUT MAKING ROSÉ IN PROVENCE AND WE TASTE HIS WINES…including the just released 2013 Whispering Angel

Posted on February 17, 2014February 13, 2016 by Susan Manfull

Sacha Lichine, the man behind the wine at Château d’Esclans, was in his old stomping grounds this week. In Boston for the city’s Wine Expo, I caught up with him at the Seaport Hotel where he was hosting a seminar on—guess what—the four tiers of luscious rosé produced in his now well-known Côtes de Provence château. In ascending order of quality, our tasting at the seminar would include Whispering Angel (2013), Château d’Esclans (2012), Les Clans (2010 and 2011), and Garrus (2010 and 2011). ...

AUPS TRUFFLE FESTIVAL: MEET THE BEST TRUFFLE DOG AND THE CUTEST TRUFFLE PIG

Posted on February 3, 2014February 13, 2016 by Susan Manfull

I am immensely grateful to Pamela J. O'Neill for her reporting and photographs of this event. Aups, the small Provence village renowned for its weekly truffle market (every Thursday morning from mid-November through February), was the place to be last Sunday—it was the site of the 21st annual “Journée de la Truffe Noire d’Aups.” Held the fourth Sunday of January each year, this truffle festival draws hundreds of people who come to eat, drink, and "root" for their favorite dog in the truffle h...

CORSICAN WINE: INFLUENCED BY PROVENCE AND ITALY, BUT DISTINCTLY ITS OWN

Posted on January 26, 2014February 13, 2016 by Susan Manfull

Corsica is a gorgeous French island just 100 miles (170 km) off the southeast coast of Provence and a short flight (45 minutes) from Marseille. Its main draw has long been its striking beaches--some 200 of them totaling over 600 miles of the island's coastline--but did you know that its wines are also a growing reason to visit L’Ile de Beauté? (And yes, Corsica is also known for its notorious mafia of French Connection fame and, more recently, for the mafia's connection to the Paris apartment wh...

TEN GENDARMES IN THE MARKET OF A TINY VILLAGE IN PROVENCE IN JANUARY? MAIS OUI, IT’S TRUFFLE SEASON!

Posted on January 20, 2014February 13, 2016 by Susan Manfull

Every Thursday morning from mid-November through February, truffle vendors file into Aups for the region’s most popular retail market for “Tuber melanosporum,” otherwise known as the "black truffle." And following close behind are chefs from local restaurants, agents working on behalf of culinary establishments in Paris, people like me who simply love truffles, tax inspectors, and more gendarmes than a village of 2000 should ever expect to see, even at the annual peak of tourism in August. This ...

NORTH AFRICAN COUSCOUS, PROVENCE ROSÉ, AND RHONE RED: A COSMOPOLITAN COMBINATION THAT WARMS BOTH BODY AND SOUL

Posted on January 12, 2014February 13, 2016 by Susan Manfull

Provence is a melting pot of immigrants and nowhere is this more apparent than in Marseille where residents hail from neighboring Italy and Spain as well as Greece, Armenia, Indochina, and West and North Africa. Given that Marseille is the Mediterranean Sea’s largest port (and Europe’s second-largest), its cosmopolitan composition is not surprising. Upwards of a quarter of the population of France’s second largest city has roots from North Africa, especially Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria (ref...