REFLOWERING 0F A TRADITION Living in Paris, Marie and François Pillet devoted their time off from work as a chef and an architect, respectively, to wine tastings and haute cuisine courses. Purists with a passion for quality and integrity, they lamented the decline of traditional methods and dreamed of owning a vineyard where they could produce organic wine. In 1993, they relocated to Carpentras and enrolled in a winemaking academy, while scouting for a few acres of vines.
It didn't take long to realize that "buying" in is nearly impossible for outsiders. In the rugged hills of la Provence cachée, Parisians are dismissed as foreigners synonymous with change. The Pillets' next line of attack was to research forgotten crops of theVaucluse. At regional wine tastings, they detected distinct saffron tones and investigated. Eurêka! Saffron was an intégral ingredient of Mediterranean cuisine and an indigenous crop from the fourteenth through the nineteenth centuries, but cultivation had died out after World War I.
Learning that grapes and saffron thrive in the same well-drained soil conditions, the Pillets settled on a former apricot nursery in the mountains of Dentelles of Montmirail and set about planting 60,000 imported crocus sativus bulbs on the terraced slopes. Unlike most flowers, growing season for the saffron crocus is late autumn, when the delicate purple blooms spring up like mushrooms on the hillside. Harvesting takes place during the month of October and must be done manually, as is subsequent conditioning and packaging. It's a job that requires patience and dexterity.
The exclusive crop is lovingly packaged for retail sale in délicate glass vials, which showcase the tender russet stamens.The vials are corked and tied to elegant ochre cards with a stylish.crimson raffia bow. The presentation resembles prestige fragrance packaging-fitting for this sophisticated spice with its subtle yet piquant character. Saffron shares affinities with the vanilla bean but lends itself equally well to savory and sweet dishes.
It didn't take long for France's top chefs to corne calling. Le Safran du Ventoux is becoming a featured ingrédient on presti-gious Michelin star menus. Celebrity chef Pierre Gagnaire of Lyon plans dishes around fresh deliveries, and Patricia Wells
OVERNIGHT SUCCESS
L'Aube Safran: Provence Spiced Just Right - Sunday, July 23, 2006; Page P04
A decade ago, Marie and Francois Pillet were looking to escape the bustle of Paris and breathe the lavender-scented air of Provence. The couple -- he an architect, she a decorator -- arrived in the South of France with dreams of producing their own wine. They attended wine school and set out shopping for a vineyard. But prices had reached an all-time high, putting the dream out of their reach.
That's when Plan B came in. Or rather, Plan B&B.
They fell in love with the Vaucluse countryside, about 45 minutes by car northeast of Avignon, at the foot of the Dentelles de Montmirail -- the famous range of short, steep mountains topped by gothic-like spires of rock. Here, amid forests of pines, live oaks and low-growing Mediterranean garrigue (scrubland) -- and vineyards and farmhouses renovated by foreigners following the trail of Peter Mayle -- they decided to build and run a bed-and-breakfast inn.
But not just any B&B. After extensive research, the Pillets decided to cultivate a spice that had been grown in the South of France for centuries and then disappeared more than 100 years ago: saffron, which is nothing more than the precious plucked stigmas of Crocus sativus .
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