Local specialities
A gourmet department par excellence, the Gard has and offers a wide range of products that perfectly sum up the identity of the Gard, nestled between sea and mountains, nature and livestock.
Cod brandade is a typical dish of Nîmes, yet the presence of this fish on the tables of the Midi seems quite incongruous, since it lives in the northern seas! To understand the history of this essential dish, we must go back in time. In the great days of the salt route... Before leaving for their long fishing campaigns, the terre-neuvas from the west came to the Camargue salt marshes to stock up on bags of salt which they exchanged for the famous fish which was then consumed throughout the region. The salt made it possible to preserve the fish over long periods. One day, a man from Nîmes had the idea to grind the flesh of the cod, to incorporate olive oil and other spices and aromatics that enhance the taste to make a dish of great renown ... the famous brandade was born. Generous and convivial dish par excellence, it is found at all the good tables of the region!
The fougasse of Aigues-Mortes is THE speciality of this medieval city. Unique in the region, it is a brioche glazed with sugar, rich in butter, and leavened with orange blossom. Originally, the fougasse was only made at Christmas, as part of the 13 desserts made for the Christmas holidays. The villager would bring his ingredients and the baker would make the focaccia and give it to him free of charge. In the 1970s, a baker had the idea of making fougasse all year round to the delight of gourmets. The recipe was adopted, scrupulously respecting the original one, to which was added a traditional know-how and some ingredients kept secret to preserve its originality. A typically Provençal sweet that can be enjoyed at any time of the day!
Agriade Saint-Gilloise. A Camargue recipe, agriade is a speciality that the peasants of Saint-Gilles and the builders of the Rhône liked to eat at their place of work. This recipe has its origins in the time when refrigerators did not yet exist, and when meat was precooked with sour ingredients ("aïgres" in Occitan), hence the name aigriade. This traditional dish made with beef chuck, onions, garlic, capers and anchovies, is one of the typical dishes of the South of France, where the art of cooking local products gives rise to tasty recipes. 3 hours of cooking on a low heat are necessary before tasting with Camargue rice!
Caillette with herbs. Formerly made in the farms when pigs were killed, caillettes are the simple and exquisite dish par excellence. Similar in shape to the paupiette, the caillette is a minced pork meatball, or sausage meat, to which mixed herbs are added (spinach, lettuce, rocket, chard leaves...). Cooked in the oven, it is a cheap dish that goes very well with a green salad!
The gardiane of bull. Authentic recipe of Camargue, the gardiane is a tasty dish which simmers for hours and hours in order to give all its tenderness and its flavours to the meat AOP bull of Camargue. If the choice of meat is essential, so is the choice of wine. The meat must be marinated in a full-bodied red wine: you should choose a Costières de Nîmes wine, or a Côtes du Rhône from the Gard region. The aromas of the gardiane go well with wild rice from the Camargue, and are even better when reheated the next day.
"Remarkable Sites of Taste": a national label, six sites in the Gard
France as a whole, and each region, like to honour its gourmet heritage. As we know, French gastronomy is renowned throughout the world and each region has its own specificities and a very marked culinary identity. Various labels exist in this respect, including the national label "Sites Remarquables du Goût". This label highlights a territory by associating it with a product that is emblematic of its land, its landscapes, its environment and its culture. The Gard, a gourmet department par excellence, is no exception to the rule and has six labelled products. In fact, it is the only department in France to be able to boast of this!
Sweet onion from the terraces of the Aigoual
We are in the west of the department, between Mount Aigoual and the Languedoc scrublands. An exceptional landscape awaits us: clinging to the relief of the Cévennes, terraces consolidated by dry stone walls sculpt the viganais country. These terraced plots of land are a very old model which underlines the adaptability of the producers to adapt to the ground and to face the bad weather which characterizes the Mediterranean climate here.
The Cévennes sweet onion finds ideal growing conditions here. This area became a PDO in 2008, and in 2011 it was awarded the label "Site Remarquable du Goût". Les Terrasses de l'Aigoual, Oignon doux des Cévennes", underlining the landscape, tourist, cultural and economic impact of this production, which is deeply rooted in its terroir, and the preservation of this landscape. A sweet onion par excellence, its taste is very sweet and not very spicy. Juicy and melting when cooked, the Cévennes sweet onion is surprisingly crunchy when eaten raw. Cultivated in an artisanal way, it is harvested by hand at the end of the summer and can be kept all winter without germinating. Don't miss the Harvest Festival on the third Sunday in August at the Origine Cévennes cooperative: a chance to immerse yourself in Cévennes traditions and taste the Cévennes sweet onion in all its forms.
Olive oil and olives from Nîmes (AOP)
The "olivettes" are small plots of olive trees, planted in dry stone terraces, which dot the Gard landscape. It is in these dry, sunny and stony environments that the olive tree, the emblematic tree of the Mediterranean basin, spreads its crops. The flagship variety of the Gard is the Picholine: an oblong olive, with an intense green colour, a juicy pulp and an inimitable crunchiness. These gustatory characteristics are found in the PDO olive oil of Nîmes, giving it very particular flavours that enhance Mediterranean cuisine.
Tasting a picholine is like entering a land of garrigue, clapas (enclosure walls) and capitelles (dry stone shelters). The "Maison de la garrigue" in Marguerittes reveals the secrets of the olive tree all year round: discover the olive-growing landscapes, the varieties of olives and their specific tastes, the making of olive oil... Numerous events take place in this Remarkable Taste Site, such as the Escapades Naturelles en Garrigue, the Journées Méditerranéennes des Saveurs in Nîmes or the Fête de la Picholine in Marguerittes.
Camargue bull (PDO)
The Camargue is familiar to us, with its wide open spaces and natural environments on the marshes swept by the Mediterranean climate. These soaked soils of alluvium and salt are not very productive; only the breeding of rustic animals allows the perenniality of the place and the development of this wet soil specific to the Rhone delta. Perfectly adapted to the natural environment of the Camargue, two breeds of bulls contribute to the harmonious balance between bullfighting and the protection of the Camargue soil.
The indigenous breed, called "Raço di Bioú", and the Brave breed, of Spanish origin, are the two bovine breeds to benefit from the PDO for "Taureau de Camargue" meat. This PDO is an official sign of quality and was awarded in 1996, making it the first French beef to be awarded this status.
Living all year round in total freedom within the natural environment of the Camargue, the Camargue bull offers meat that is fleshy and tasty, tender and not very fatty, easy to simmer, to roast, or to enjoy in gardianne, the emblematic dish of the Camargue.
Black truffles from the Uzès region - Pont du Gard
The fruit of an underground mushroom, the tuber melanosporum, "black truffle of the Périgord", is harvested in late autumn. The particularity of this Remarkable Taste Site, between garrigue and vineyards, is on the one hand to have two jewels of the heritage which are the Pont du Gard and the city of art and history of Uzès, and on the other hand, that the black truffle is worked here only fresh, and this to offer the best of its gustative qualities. Therefore, the product is only available during the harvest season, from November to February. The Gard, because of its geology and its climatic conditions, is a privileged department for the harvest of truffles. You can find the truffle producers at the Cabane aux Truffes, every Saturday morning in Uzès, from November to early March. The Maison de Garniac welcomes you all year round: discover a truffle arboretum and introduce your taste buds to the subtle taste of this black nugget. Finally, in the heart of winter, the "Weekend of the Truffle" is an opportunity to highlight all the riches of this land.
The figs of Vézénobres
In Vézénobres, a charming medieval village nestled in the foothills of the Cévennes, there is a conservatory orchard with nearly 1000 trees, or a hundred varieties of fig trees from around the Mediterranean. The history of the city is closely linked to the production of figs since texts attest to the trade of dried figs since the 15th century. Indeed, the figs were hung along the facades of the south-facing houses and were thus swept away by the heat and the prevailing wind.
Don't miss a visit to the Maison de la Figue, a true interpretation and discovery centre for the fruit. Not forgetting the Fig Festival which takes place in October. This is an opportunity to promote the fruit in all its components through activities, exhibitions and tastings at the market of producers of figs.
For more information, contact
National Network of Remarkable Taste Sites - www.sitesremarquablesdugout.com
The rosé wine of Tavel
"King of rosés, Rosé of kings", Tavel was the wine of the kings of France, and often invited to the table of the Popes in Avignon. The result of the work of generations of winegrowers, Tavel rosé is an exceptional wine. It is the wine of a terroir: an AOC appellation, a grand cru of the Rhône Valley, produced in the communes of Tavel and Roquemaure, on the hillsides along the right bank of the Rhône. It is a wine of history and of men: passionate winegrowers who for centuries have respected the ancestral know-how and the singularity of their soil. Tavel is a wine that is only vinified as a rosé, and which is produced solely by maceration, giving this wine its special colour with amber and copper highlights. It is finally a wine with an atypical and expressive taste, with dominant red fruit and candied flavours.
Do not hesitate to go to the tasting cellars where you can savour this nectar, and ask the sommelier of the best tables who will know how to perfect this tasting with a subtle food and wine pairing.Gard Militant of Taste
The products thus labelled are also integrated into the Gard Militant du Goût approach:
This approach is an initiative of the department which, since 2002, aims to highlight the gastronomic heritage of the Gard through the promotion of excellent products. The Gard Militant of Taste Charter guarantees consumers the origin, quality and authenticity of products. In this way, they are the quintessence of Gard agriculture, where short circuits and the local economy are a point of honour. This label is finally the ultimate expression of the know-how of the craftsmen and restaurant owners of Gard.
Information: https: //militantdugout.gard.fr/The Gard vineyard, its characteristics
You will soon see (if you don't already know) that the Gard vineyards are characterised by wines that are very different from one another, resulting from a mild but varied climate, soils and multiple grape varieties. The Gard has a wide variety of soils: rolled pebbles, sandstone and marl, limestone and schist, clay soils, pudding soils, sandy soils, molasses, etc.; all geological factors explaining the specificity of each appellation. As for the grape varieties, they are also very numerous: red, grey, white.
The climate, of course, also plays its part in the typicality of the Languedoc vineyards: it is the Mediterranean climate in all its splendour, with hot and dry summers, mild and sunny autumns, springs and winters. Rainfall is low (among the lowest in France in some places), and the Mistral and Tramontane winds (very present in the region) dry the vines after the rain and prevent disease. This type of climate is ideal for viticulture.
Restructuring of the vineyard. The last 30 years have seen the development of Mediterranean grape varieties such as Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah, leading to new plantings. In addition, applied research has led to a better use of traditional grape varieties and the optimisation of their cultivation. The diversified vinification of grape varieties according to their maturity and their reactions in the vat has become the rule. But, of course, after this stage, the winegrowers are very attentive to the blending of grape varieties. Moreover, if there is no general rule, more and more winegrowers in the Gard are implementing reasoned agriculture, if not organic.
COOPERATIVE WINERIES
Cooperative wineries appeared at the beginning of the 20th century in a context of an overabundance of wine on the market to "free" small winegrowers, to allow them to better ensure their vinification and to be able to preserve their wines, as a response to the crisis to bypass the intermediaries - merchants and brokers who imposed their laws - and to elaborate the wine together by pooling the technical means. The cooperative was to play a technical, economic and social role: the new wineries were to be equipped with high-performance oenological equipment, to ensure a storage policy to block wines according to market prices, and finally to maintain a whole population of small winegrowers in certain villages threatened by rural exodus. Membership is open to all and the management is done together: one man, one vote. The "coopé" building became the pride of the village and even a symbolic institution in the same way as the town hall, the church and the school. The cooperative has also left a lasting mark on the Gard landscape with an architecture that oscillates between industrial heritage and architectural work.
In the years 2000 and 2010, an important work has been conducted in the Languedoc-Roussillon region to identify the cooperative cellars. There are almost 70 of them in the Gard, of varying sizes: some have more than 200 cooperative winegrowers, such as the Cave de Saint-Maurice or the Cave des Vignerons de Tavel-Lirac.
Some cellars are simply a place of production and sale, while others offer a real wine tourism service. As an illustration of this tourist attraction, the Ministry of Culture has awarded the label "Heritage of the 20th century" to a dozen cellars in the Gard: Aigues-Vives, Aubais, Souvignargues, Vergèze, Domessargues, Saint-Theodorit, Vauvert, Canaul, Saint-Christol-lez-Ales and, of course... Tavel, also listed as a historical monument.Destinations Vignobles et Découvertes
The Vignobles et Découvertes label, created in 2009 by Atout France, France's tourism development agency, underlines the tourism and wine-growing vocation of a destination for which visitors are assured of a facilitated organisation of their stay, the presence of diverse and varied tourist products, and the guarantee of authentic quality services.
Therefore, the Gard partners displaying the Vignobles et Découvertes label commit to
-a quality welcome in French or in a foreign language
-receptivity to the world of wine
-authenticity
-taste, sharing and transmission
-access to heritage sites, whether cultural, human or natural.
The Gard department has 4 destinations in this respect.
Costières de Nîmes :
The AOC Costières de Nîmes is the most southern of the Rhone Valley vineyards. From Nîmes to the Mediterranean, the AOC Costières de Nîmes unfolds its flavours in a protected natural setting. From the historic centre of Nîmes, where the most prestigious monuments of Roman antiquity can be found, to the Route des Vignes which takes us to the Camargue gardoise, the land is adorned with riches and invites us to stop in the estates and cellars to savour the wines of the appellation. Then you must travel further north towards the Pont du Gard and Beaucaire and its castle overlooking the Rhone, where you will appreciate the calm of a night spent in an old Provencal farmhouse. Atypical addresses, places with singing accents, passionate people... that's what a "Terroir d'Accueil" is all about.
Vignobles du Vidourle Camargue :
The Vidourle is a coastal river that rises at the foot of the Cevennes and flows into the Mediterranean Sea in the Petite Camargue. In its wake, the Vidourle crosses a multitude of landscapes shaped by the garrigue and the fine sandy beaches. The vineyards punctuate the horizon here, serving as a gustatory border between the north and south of Vidourle Camargue. A plural and colourful land, whose riches are just waiting to be discovered. Take the time to stroll through the southern villages and soak up the culture and traditions. Get to know the service providers of the Vignobles et Découvertes label to share unique, authentic and friendly experiences.
Côtes du Rhône Gardoises :
Labelled Vignobles et Découvertes in 2014, this destination is bathed in sunshine. Between Languedoc and Provence, on the right bank of the Rhône, the Côtes du Rhône Gardoises reveal the authentic character of their thousand-year-old wine-growing terroirs. The crus of Lirac and Tavel are emblematic of this vineyard which stretches its fleshy bunches between rivers and scrubland. A wine tourism tour that should be started with a visit to the Espace Rabelais in Bagnols-sur-Cèze. Epicureans, you will be delighted to discover the richness of local wines by crossing the threshold of the various estates that dot the destination. From food and wine pairings at the best tables in the area to gourmet stops exhaling the scents of Provence to the three most beautiful villages in France, everything is here to awaken your senses.
Cévennes vineyards
It is in the heart of the Cévennes National Park that the Vignoble des Cévennes destination is nestled. A wonderful territory which, thanks to its preserved nature, gives the wines an incredible freshness, an undeniable characteristic of these wines. In these multi-faceted Cévennes, the wine tourist is invited to explore a tourist offer where modernity is added to authenticity. The tourist map of the Cévennes vineyard destination thus includes walks in the heart of the vineyards, between agricultural heritage and views of the Cévennes. Treat yourself to an escapade at the Fumades thermal baths or take a ride on the Cévennes steam train. The Cévennes identity can also be experienced through meetings with the artisans of taste and flavours of this destination: the Fête du Vin et des Produits Cévénols in Anduze is notably an opportunity to explore the diversity of Cévennes PGI wines.
