Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
BLACK DIAMONDS
Provence's cloak-and-dagger truffle trade is operated from the back of cars, with payment exclusively in cash.
Little-known
Richerenches
, a deceptively wealthy village with a medieval Templar fortress, hosts France's
largest wholesale truffle market. It's lovely to visit year round, but especially so on Saturday mornings during
truffle season (mid-November to mid-March), when the main street fills with furtive
rabassaïres
(truffle hunters),
selling to
courtiers
(brokers) representing dealers in Paris, Germany, Italy and beyond. So covert are the transac-
tions that you are never likely to see a truffle change hands.
Black truffles
(Tuber melanosporum)
cost up to €1000 per kilogram
wholesale
, up to €4000 retail. Although
trufficulteurs
(truffle growers) try tricks like injecting spores into oak roots, humankind has so far been unable to
increase crops of this quasi-mystical fungus. Only nature can dictate if it will be a good or bad year - weather is
the major determinant of yield.
Richerenches villagers celebrate an annual Truffle Mass in the village church, when parishioners place truffles
instead of cash in the collection plate. Then they're auctioned to support the church. The Mass falls on the Sunday
nearest 17 January, feast day of Antoine, patron saint of truffle harvesters. (Yes, there's a saint for everything.)
Contact Richerenches'
Point Tourisme
(
04 90 28 05 34;
www.richerenches.fr
; rue du Campanile;
2pm-6pm Mon-Sat)
for details.
If you want to unearth truffles yourself,
Dominique and Eric Jaumard
( 04 90 66 82 21;
www.truffes-
ventoux.com
; La Quinsonne, 634 chemin du Traversier; Oct-mid-Mar)
arrange seasonal hunts and year-
round walks on their truffle-rich land, 7km southwest of Carpentras, in Monteux. Or you could buy truffles fresh,
in season, at weekly regional markets, including Vaison-la-Romaine (Tuesday) and Carpentras (Friday). Store in a
sealed jar of rice, which will take on the tubers' heady fragrance.
LE BARROUX
POP 615 / ELEV 325M
Charming wee Le Barroux clings to a hillside beneath medieval
Château du Barroux
(
04 90 62 35 21;
www.chateau-du-barroux.com
;
adult/child €5/free; 10am-7pm Sat
& Sun Apr & May, 2.30-7pm Jun, 10am-7pm Jul-Sep, 2-6pm Oct)
, built in the 12th cen-
tury to protect the village from Saracen invaders. One of Provence's few castles, its for-
tunes rose and fell, the last indignity occurring during WWII when retreating Germans set
it ablaze - it burned for 10 days. Only ghosts remain in its vast chambers, but it's great
fun to explore, especially for kids unaccustomed to such architectural drama.
Two kilometres out of Le Barroux along thread-narrow lanes, hear
Gregorian chants
sung by Benedictine monks at 9.30am daily (10am Sunday and holidays) at
Abbaye Ste-
Madeleine
( 04 90 62 56 31;
www.barroux.org
)
, a Romanesque-style monastery (c
1980s), surrounded by lavender. Its shop carries delicious monk-made almond cake. Hats,
miniskirts, bare shoulders and mobile phones forbidden.
