La Verrière - The History of Glass Making

La Verrière - The History of Glass Making

What is in a name? La Verrière is the French name for a glass-making workshop and our property was named as such by the nobleman, Aliot de Montvin (one of our white wines is named after him), in 1427. It is thought he moved his mobile furnaces here to make use of the nearby forests to keep them burning at the high temperatures required for making glass. This fired (excuse the pun) our interest in glassmaking so we wanted to share with you some history about how glass is made and how this art evolved particularly in France.

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Climb every mountain - Mont Ventoux

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Climb every mountain - Mont Ventoux

Being situated in the Mont Ventoux UNESCO World Heritage Site means the mountain looms large in La Verriere’s outlook. Standing separately from anything nearly as high around it, Mont Ventoux is called the ‘Giant of Provence’ and is credited in some circles as being part of the start of the Renaissance era and by most people as an incredibly hard stretch of the Tour de France. Seeing this majestic and infamously windy mountain every day made us curious about it so here are some of the most interesting things about it:

A Magical Christmas in Provence

A Magical Christmas in Provence

As you can imagine by the altitude of our location, Christmas at La Verrière is beautifully snowy, cosy and magical. It’s the season for truffle hunting and skiing but there are also fascinating and absolutely adorable Christmas traditions in Provence that we recommend looking out for. The Christmas period in this region stretches from 4th December to 2nd February which helps to make a stay in Provence in the winter so special. Here are some Christmas highlights…

The Lavender of Provence

The Lavender of Provence

Provence is a region famous for wine as we well know but it is equally famous for growing another highly desirable crop, lavender. The lavender fields of Provence are legendary for their beauty and amazing scent. Growing lavender in this region is so established that lavender is perceived as the scent of France but the lavender oil produced here is sold all over the world. Many of the visitors we have here at La Verrière enjoy our own lavender, but they also visit the larger lavender fields and we feel it is a real source of pride for the region so here is a little more about lavender in Provence.

Abbaye de Prebayon

Abbaye de Prebayon

Back when La Verrière was a priory in Medieval times, it was a dependency of the local Abbaye de Prebayon and the Abbey’s ruins are now a beautiful place to visit as part of a scenic walk through picturesque woodlands from La Verrière. We did that walk recently and were struck not just by the beauty and peace of the place but also by the depth of the history surrounding it. It is impossible to walk around the site and not wonder about the lives of the people who lived there throughout the years. As such, here is some information about the history of Abbaye de Prebayon, the first female abbey in Vaucluse.

Chocolaterie de Crestet

Chocolaterie de Crestet

A visit to our beloved “Chocolaterie de Crestet” this week reminded me of what I love about France. We are so lucky that even in a tiny town like ours we have a world-class chocolate and nougat artisan, Yves Telleron, who has trained with the best and now supplies his delectable creations even to the most demanding international clients such as Fortnum and Mason.

Eco Friendly Provence

Eco Friendly Provence

As a very eco-conscious establishment, we at La Verrière are always interested to see what other environmentally friendly incentives are going on in our local area. Thankfully, France is very good at pushing for green energy production, reducing energy usage and lowering its environmental impact all round but we were delighted to find that our region is particularly good at this with some interesting and innovate projects.

It’s a Vine Life – Come and Stay with Us and ‘Harvest’ your wine knowledge

It’s a Vine Life – Come and Stay with Us and ‘Harvest’ your wine knowledge

Visitors have the opportunity to experience the whole winemaking journey here at La Verriere. Harvest is of course an extra special time of the year in the vineyard and the winery, and guests are able to have a unique insight into viticulture and winemaking - quite literally from the grape to the glass. There are a variety of wine-related activities and workshops on offer at La Verriere throughout the year, catering for all levels of wine enthusiasts from novice to collector.

The Vendange (Wine Harvest)

It’s vital that the utmost care is taken to preserve the precious juice of our grapes so that we can turn it into our award-winning wine, so all our grapes are picked by hand and sorted by hand on a vibrating sorting table. Visitors can come and observe the harvest and be part of the incredible atmosphere at this time of year. We can also organise bespoke educational programmes around the harvest too.