(L-R); Sophie Seale, Tom Seale;
On Thursday 9 December 2021, Les Templiers de Provence held a Vernissage at the Altra Osteria (Italian restaurant) in Luxembourg-Bonnevoie, along with Bernard-Massard (which had various still and sparkling wines from its Domaine Clos des Rochers range for tasting), with the host providing home-made foccacia and pizza.
The olive oil tasting was organised following the recent "récolté" and pressing in November, during which they harvested a record 53 tonnes of olives from which they produced 8,500 litres of olive oil, almost double last year's production. The trees - planted a number of years ago - have now reached maturity and are producing more olives for the harvest than in previous years; in 2017, the estimate was for the harvest to increase to 7-10,000 litres in total.
Tom Seale (formerly CEO of European Fund Administrators (EFA) and also of LuxFLAG Chairman, both in Luxembourg), has culivated a plot in Provence and started planting olive trees a number of years ago. 2008 saw the first harvest from the then young trees, approximately 600 in number, with a total of 300 litres of olive oil being produced. Now the young trees are larger and more mature, counting around 3,000 over 11 hectares. The first real commercial harvest was in 2014. While the 2015 - 2017 harvests each resulted in circa 3-4,000 litres of olive oil being produced, the 2021 harvest has benefitted from the wet climate during this year's growing season. Normally the ratio of harvested olives (in weight) to litres is normally around 5.5.
Tom Seale talked with Chronicle.lu and explained that 2021 has been the wettest year to date for Les Templiers de Provence (with 2017 & 2020 the driest). He stated "we are very happy with the quality" of this yeason's olive oil, and stressed "we try to produce the very highest quality". He also explained that they are focussing on marketing it in the Greater Region.
Since 2017, they have been producing honey too, having started managing on-site aviaries in 2014: this year, their 10 beehives have produced 80kg of honey, down from 200kg in 2020 (due to the wet climate this year).
New this year are soap (made from lime, water and olive oil) and tisane (herbal tea, made from olive leaves, lavender, rosemary and thyme).
Hubert Clasen (Director, Bernard-Massard) and Georges Lentz (Managing Director, Bofferding) were amongst the guests of the evening.
For further details, including ordering, see www.lestempliersdeprovence.com
Photo (L-R): Georges Lentz (Managing Director, Bofferding); Hubert Clasen (Director, Bernard-Massard)
