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Bastide du Laval

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  • Since 1998
  • Distribution Elysée, Sénat
The story of a couple who dream of returning to Nature...after an all-consuming career in tourism in the USA and then in France.
 
Roland is the grandson of winegrowers from Beaujolais, Carine is the granddaughter of farmers from Drôme. 

However, they escape the call of the Earth and are passionate about the adventure of the company.
 
Coming from a sporting background, they created beach clubs for children in the Landes in the 1980s, then decided to try the American adventure and left for Los Angeles from 1985 to 1998 where they created three prosperous companies focused on Tourism. 


In 1998, they sold everything, house and companies and fell in love with a wine estate of around thirty hectares in Provence, in Cadenet, a small village in the Luberon.
 
They worked for a few months to reorganize the estate and planted several thousand olive trees. 


In order to give the trees time to grow, they drew on their American experience and created Auto Escape in July 1999, a company whose activity is based on a concept that is still new in France: car rental broker. 

The company, which prioritizes quality of service above all else, is growing rapidly and 50 employees have joined the structure in Pertuis, in the Luberon. 

Having become number 1 in France, it attracted investors and Roland and Carine COUPAT decided to sell their company when it entered the stock market. 

It will then be bought by Expedia, the world number 1 in online tourism. 


In the meantime, the trees grew, other olive trees were planted and today, the farm has 4,000 trees spread over 15 hectares. 


At the same time, Carine and Roland patiently trained themselves in all olive growing practices and techniques in France and Italy.
 
Roland completed his training by obtaining a diploma in oleology in 2010 from the University of Pharmacy of Montpellier. 

He is a certified taster, and is regularly a member of the jury in prestigious competitions such as the Concours Général Agricole de Paris.
 
The logical evolution led quite naturally to the creation of an olive oil mill, the heart of the olive oil activity of a village or region.
 
2020 is a year of transmission to their son Léo, holder of a Master in Management from SKEMA Business School, an oleologist diploma and the status of official taster of the International Olive Council. 


The philosophy
In the olive grove: the trees, although irrigated, produce little. 

On the one hand they are located at the edge of the climatic cultivation zone, and on the other hand they are pruned every year. 

Therefore, they concentrate their qualities in the few olives they produce.
 
The cultivation of olive trees is done according to the principles of organic farming and here, the king fertilizer is... manure! 

This, composted, is rich in micro-organisms and helps regenerate humus and improve the qualities of the soil. 

It releases slowly and over a long period of time the mineral elements it contains (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) which trees need.
 
Harvesting is done manually, with combs and nets.
 
The mill: when you have taken so much care of your product, it is no longer possible to take risks during its processing. 

The oil extracted from olives must absolutely comply with the ambition of the olive grower. 

Hence the idea, slowly maturing in the minds of Carine and Roland, to build a mill and train to “grind” their own olives, that is to say extract the oil.
 
Everything in the building has been designed for minimal impact on the environment and therefore maximum energy autonomy: orientation, insulation, respect for the authenticity of the site, use of noble and local materials. 

Outside the mill, this same philosophy prevails: the olive pomace is reused as biofuel to heat the mill. 

The olive pulp is spread after composting to fertilize the soil.
 
Processing the olives in your own mill allows you to minimize the time between harvest and crushing, thus avoiding any risk of fermentation or loss of aromas.
 
The machine used for extraction is of the latest generation. 

It is no coincidence that the new arrival is Italian, and more precisely from Tuscany, a region at the forefront in the production of green fruity olive oil. 

It is a two-phase mill, that is to say without the addition of water during crushing, which allows the oil to retain most of the aromas contained in the olive.
 
Finally, and with the same objective, the extraction technique is done cold.
 
The flagship product, a typical “green fruity” oil, with a very low acidity level, is the result of this set of factors, in particular this extraction method, but not only!
 
We must also take into account the influence of the terroir, the varieties, and the optimal maturity of the olives.
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