Iconic Life

At the golden hour, below Gordes, on a natural stretch of land with breathtaking views over the iconic hilltop village, we meet Gaël Florent, a truffle-grower for several generations. Accompanied by Noisette, his truffle dog, we get to know the truffle-grower up close and personal, discovering his activity and learning more about his work. We'll be able to catch up with him as he makes his way around a truffle plot not far from his farm.

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"The region is a true truffle paradise."

"On the plantations, what we're looking for is for a circle to be created around the tree, which means that the grass is no longer growing, this is what we call burnt. This is the visual sign. The truffle kills the surrounding grass. It's the only thing scientists can't reproduce at the moment, which is why we don't grow truffles at will. Burn marks generally appear after 4/5 years around the oak."

"There are trees that will make 3 kilos of truffles in just 1 year, they'll produce 3 years and then not at all. That's the law of nature. In general, trees that produce few truffles last longer, those that produce a lot last less."

"The quality of the harvest will depend very much on water and heat. Truffles need a lot of water when they are growing. For winter truffles, everything happens in autumn. But truffles don't need much water. The problem is with the germ. The winter truffle germ develops in late spring, early summer. If it develops and it rains at the same time, that's great. On the other hand, if there's a 15-day drought afterwards and the germ has developed well, everything will dry out. But if there's no water, then it doesn't develop at all, which is what happened last winter (2022) because there wasn't enough rain from June to September.

"The truffle takes 8 to 10 months to fully develop."

"The winter truffle is less difficult to find, in general, the burnt round is really perfect around the tree. Whereas for the summer truffle, the grass is going to be slightly sparser, it's less visible."

"The summer truffle is very shallow, whereas the winter truffle is between 5 and 15 cm underground, sometimes 50 cm and then you curse the dog because you need a backhoe to dig! (laughs)"

"In summer, I go out to look for truffles from around 7pm to 9pm. In the morning I go to the market. In winter I don't go to the market and I look for truffles in the morning and evening."

"The best time to look for truffles is early in the morning, because it's better for the smells, but the problem is that all the wild animals have passed in front of us all night, and that really distracts the dogs. In the evening, there are no more scents."

An introduction to truffle hunting? This is a unique experience to be enjoyed alongside Gael from Ferme de Blayos during a stay at Les Hauts de Gordes, the fourth property in the Iconic House Collection.

Discover more of the nuggets to visit around Gordes in ICONS, the collection of attractive pocket guides launched by Iconic House around its destinations.

Images : Stéphanie Davilma