Commercial vine growing was barred in Brittany for most of the last century, and Les Vignes de la Ria is among the estates planting since the ban lifted. At Kerlézo, on a former family dairy farm, 25,000 vines now cover five hectares of granite soil. The visit crosses the plots, enters the winery in the old barn, and closes with a tasting of the estate’s first wines. Romain Le Guillou and viticulturist Adrien Michel work the vines organically.
Tag: food-tastings
L’Atelier de l’Argoat et l’andouille de Guéméné
L’Atelier de l’Argoat walks visitors through the making of the Véritable Andouille de Guéméné à l’Ancienne. The family firm has made it in Brittany for over thirty years, by hand, from French pork intestines and without colourings. The round ends at the shop on site, with a tasting and a booklet of recipes and games built around andouille. The workshop works mainly with Breton suppliers and carries the Produit en Bretagne label.
Dans les coulisses des algues bretonnes
The drying facility of a Trégunc seaweed business opens for this visit, and the stages of seaweed processing are presented in order. With them comes the trade of the professional seaweed harvester, who works wild food seaweed, not a cultivated crop. A tasting closes it: seaweed as broth, as crackers, as tartare, as chips, and in cheeses aged with it. The Maison de l’Alimentation Itinérante of the association Aux Goûts Du Jour runs the stop.
Visite de la Cidrerie Coat Albret à Bédée
Morgan opens the Cidrerie Coat Albret, at La Haie Rénier in Bédée, while the apple pressing is at its height. Visitors follow the fruit through the press, then drink the juice as it comes off, before fermentation has begun. A tasting led by the house compares its apples, its juice and its cider. This is a family holding whose bottled ciders and juices sit among the department’s regional specialities, and Breton games close the children’s round.
Maison Brieuc: the biscuiterie workshops, Yffiniac
Maison Brieuc opens its production workshops at Yffiniac and walks visitors along the route its ingredients take, from raw material to finished product. Pâtissiers, carameliers and confituriers are at work as the group passes. What comes off these lines is the Breton repertoire of palet breton and kouign amann, Confibreizh and spécialités au caramel, worked au beurre salé with sel de Guérande. The visit is offered as a matter of transparency.
Patat’As: Ploeuc Potato House and Farm Visit
Patat’As is the potato house of Plœuc-L’Hermitage, and the association La Belle du Lié guides visitors through it. Its collection runs to more than 220 heirloom varieties, held as a living conservatory of the crop the commune is known for. The visit then moves to a traditional Plœuc farm that has grown potatoes for several generations, following the tuber from field to plate. It closes back at Patat’As with a tasting of Bret’s.
AGDE artisan cannery, Plabennec
The AGDE workshop runs a small cannery at Plabennec, the only agri-food project of its kind in Brittany, and its line doubles as a route back into paid work. Visitors follow the jars through the kitchen, sweet and savoury side by side: pâtés, rillettes, jams and prepared meals. The posts on that line are learned by some thirty-five people a year, on the way to a lasting job. A tasting of the jars closes the round, with tea, coffee or apple juice.
Farm cheesemaking at Au Pré de la Terre
Au Pré de la Terre is run by three people at Plélan-le-Grand: Stéphanie on the family holding, Kévin setting up his own operation, and Paul. Every litre from their Breton cows is processed on site into no fewer than six cheeses, plus butter, skyr and Gwell, the dairy product particular to the Pie Noire breed. The herd grazes year round and grass is at the heart of the system, on a farm certified organic. The two-hour visit closes with a tasting.
La Miellerie d’Alré, l’abeille noire à Auray
Pierre Bourlès keeps his hives across the Pays d’Auray, from the Golfe du Morbihan and the Ria d’Etel to the Baie de Quiberon, and the bee is the abeille noire de Bretagne. Visitors follow the honey trail through the workshops, from harvest to bottling, and taste what comes out. The race is conserved, not farmed for yield, with the association Abeille Noire Atlantique credited for the breeding. The honey is extracted and jarred in Auray.
Behind the counter at the crêperie Saint Thomas
The crêperie Saint Thomas lets a small group through to the working side of its kitchen in Landerneau. The batter is mixed in front of them, the crêpes are turned, and the fillings are built from produce sourced nearby. A tasting closes the round. The house is known in the Pays de Landerneau-Daoulas for its Breton specialities, and it opens its doors here for the Semaines du tourisme économique et des Savoir-Faire.