Christian VERGNES

Olive groves have always been part of the Mediterranean landscape. There are many in the Aude area and in the XVIIIth century there were over 550 000 olive trees. There were fewer in the Limoux region, which forms the werstern border (25.150 trees in 1789) because olive trees are sensitive to hard frost. However, there are many signs that show the inportance of olive trees in the region such as the names of some plots of land (e.g; the olivette = little olive grove) and there is also an olive oil press in the village of Saint-Hilaire ( 82 presses in all in the region in the present day).

For the last ten years or so, olive trees have been replanted in the Languedoc region with the support of the European Community.

Some specialists even say that the oil we produce on the Domaine de Martinolles could compete with the best oils from Tuscany, what could be a better reference.