Cayet-roux, Ombrine, Brotignan, Béchude, Rougette, Calian… With around fifty other varieties, these olive trees with poetic names almost disappeared from the Provençal landscape, replaced by Aglandau, a variety as productive as it is perfectly adapted to the climate of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. But in Les Mées, Domaine Salvator, 130 ha producing apples, almonds and olives for its mill, has managed to preserve them on the 2.5 ha of its “conservatory” bringing together 500 plants of 57 varieties with different genetic heritages. Near the Durance and facing the Ganagobie plateau where they grow, these rare trees produce 8 to 10 tonnes of olives, or around 1,500 liters of oil.
“Our uncle started a collection of all these traditional olive trees, to preserve them but also for the purpose of scientific studies. There are certain varieties that we only find here,” say Frédéric and Sophie Pinatel, cousins who took over a family farm dating back to 1904. “We had this production that we did not value and we decided last year to produce a particular oil with these varieties, an olive oil matured after around ten days of fermentation. »
