Gourmet products local specialties and wines Pays De La Loire

The snail, here called "luma" is a real local gastronomic speciality. Less well known than its Burgundian counterpart, it is nonetheless an unavoidable speciality of the Bocage Vendéen. Gabrielle Moreau raises and cooks them. They are offered fresh and ready to bake (in shells, mini-bouchées, cabbage...) for the aperitif or as a starter, in jars of flesh or cooked. You can also take a tour of the farm with a commentary by the heliciculturist - a bit of culture doesn't hurt! -, then aperitif with snail tasting.

In this shop, we make in the respect of the tradition, pastry specialities from the Vendée such as the brioche: traditional, puff pastry croissant type, with nuggets and the wedding brioche. Another flagship product is the fion à l'ancienne, a traditional Easter dessert made from eggs and milk, typical of the western Vendee, made from a family recipe that requires perfect mastery of cooking and know-how. Other flagship products: fouasse, gâche and préfou, bread filled with garlic butter to be enjoyed as an aperitif.

Located at the exit of Aizenay on the road leading to St-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, this family and artisanal cheese factory, created more than a quarter of a century ago by Mr Zerathe, produces different varieties of fresh and matured goat cheeses: the "bûchette" (5 varieties: natural, ashed, with herbs of Provence, with pepper or without salt), the "crottin" (natural or ashed), the "chabichou" (also called "palet" according to the region). Good products. On sale directly on the spot, but also on the stalls of the shops of Vendean cheese makers, producer's shops,...

In Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, there are two typical markets: on the right bank, on the Croix-de-Vie side, on Place Kergoustin, at the foot of the Sainte-Croix church; or on the left bank, on the Saint-Gilles side, on Place du Marché-aux-Herbes and Place du Vieux-Port, near the Saint-Gilles church. Very popular with locals and summer visitors, they are particularly well-stocked at weekends, with a wide variety of food products from local producers: fish (including sardines when in season) and seafood from the nearby fish market, fruit and vegetables from Hilairo's market gardeners...

Are you a seafood lover? You have a family meal and don't want to cook for hours: seafood is the solution! This company, which is also present on the Arago and Halles markets, as well as at the Pilote fish market in the fishing port, is well known to the people of Sablais for the freshness of its products: oysters, shellfish, shrimp, langoustines, mussels... Longevity rhymes with Rocheteau. Created in 1900, it is the fourth generation that is in place! New: the opening of an oyster bar, Les Barges!

A renowned fishmonger's, created by Jean-Paul Eriau, in the fishing port (opposite the Musée du Coquillage). The products come directly from the fish market (next door): freshness guaranteed! With half a century of experience, it is the^4th generation with Paul-Arthur. On the stall: sea bass, cod, sea bream, gambas, prawns, shrimps, monkfish, mackerel, cod, skate, St Peter's, salmon, sole, turbot, tuna, sardines, scallops, etc. Daily arrivals, fish processed and prepared on site. Top quality, freshness, very fair prices, smiles and advice!

This small shop close to the shops hides treasures for charcuterie fans, and we are. It was the smell of salting that we took the step and put this small voice in the closet, which told us: " No, we must not: your plan! '. So bad, it's too appetising at the time of the aperitif! As its name proudly indicates, a charcuterie specialises in sausages! On the stalls a beautiful diversity of cochonnailles from all origins and all scents.

Don't leave the island without tasting its flagship specialty: the delicious prune tart from the Mousnier patisserie, also present at the market. Alain Mousnier's home-made cakes, jams and salted butter caramel are part of the island's culinary tradition. Other specialties include betchets (which means "cookie" in local dialect, i.e. twice-baked), also known as sailor's cookies because they keep for several days at sea. For mardi gras, there's also foutimasson, a doughnut also known as bottereau or tourtisseau.

This small artisanal cannery is hidden behind the pier. Régis and Christophe sell in their shop and on the market, artisanal tuna products made on the island. Among the products: tuna in natural or olive oil, tuna pâté (plain or with green pepper), tuna mousse, monkfish liver, tuna rillettes (plain, with tomato or green pepper), mackerel rillettes, sardine rillettes and sardine pâtés. The products are delicious and of high quality. You can also buy your products by mail order.

If there is one place that brings together all epicureans and lovers of good fresh local produce, it is the market, and the one in Saint-Sauveur remains the largest on the island. It takes its quarters in the streets of the village, in front of the houses. You will find there smoked fish from the Islamic canning factories, sweet specialities such as the prune tart, without forgetting some products of creators and craftsmen of art which you will bring back as souvenir gifts. The market is also the place to get to know the inhabitants of the island.

Bertrand Souchard and Gaelle Courtin are producers and processors of ducks, raised according to the agriconfiance sanitary standards. The farm covers 50 hectares, part of which is reserved for raising cattle. They make farmhouse foie gras preserves and offer duck-based products: stuffed neck confit, duck breast stuffed with foie gras or plain, fresh products, rillettes, terrines, smoked duck breast, duck confit. For groups, visit of the farm and the force-feeding workshop possible. Products for sale on the spot, on local markets,...

Oysters, mussels and clams. Retail sale at the institution.

Just for the name, we wanted to taste this production; a good point. On the road to the Pointe d'Arçay, between sea and forest, this oyster farmer offers retail sales of his oyster production, which you can also taste on the spot and, upon request, take a guided tour (free) of the farm. It is interesting. To complete your seafood platter or to treat yourself to flambéed prawns, you can buy them right here. They produce imperial prawns (order in advance) raised in their ponds!

Estelle and Christian Chabirand acquired this 20 ha estate in 1997. On this virgin terroir, outside the appellation, they planted a 15 ha organic vineyard (Ecocert). Christian, an oenologist by training, has accumulated experience by travelling to many vineyards in France, and was awarded the Loire Trophy for Vigneron de Caractère by the Gault et Millau guide in 2017. A long maceration vinification applied on a perfect quality of grapes allows to elaborate cuvées gardes called here nicely Vins de Mémoire.

The Mercier family has been dedicated to the wine tradition since 1890. They produce AOC Fiefs Vendee wines, vins de pays du Val de Loire and a cuvée using the traditional method. The 45 ha vineyard is planted on the clay and limestone terraces on the flinty outcrop of Vix. The development of the estate is intimately linked to the activity of the wine nursery whose know-how is recognised worldwide. Thanks to this, the estate benefits from a great diversity of varieties and selections, which gives their cuvées a beautiful complexity and signs the style of their wines.

Bernard Richard is ostréiculteur. It produces hollow oysters on the river Auzance. These oysters offer the particularity of a mixture of fresh water and salt water. Also for sale in front of the tourist office every day in summer (Sunday morning off season) and at l'Île d'Olonne.

In the heart of the salt marshes, Thierry Michon produces authentic and prestigious wines on 37 hectares of biodynamic cultivation (since 1995), referenced in the guides and present on a large number of French starred tables, and in establishments in the United States, Italy and Japan. Elegant and refined wines, naturally vinified, reflecting our biodiversity and our environment. Each cuvée is a plot-based cuvée. Also sparkling wines produced using traditional methods as well as atypical wines vinified and matured in amphoras.

The Lardière family is a mogette producer, but not only, since they also breed cows with passion, precisely the Blonde d'Aquitaine. A little reminder: the mogette is a dry white bean, with a grain with one end elongated. It is the flagship product of the farm, which also offers coconuts, flageolets, kidney beans and lentils. This GAEC offers you quality products, produced locally and family-owned through animal and environmental friendly breeding practices.

Joël Guérin is a producer of fattened ducks. From the first day of the duck's life to the final product, everything happens on the site of the La Chedanière farm. The animals are raised in the open air according to tradition. The ducks are force-fed only with whole cooked corn. On sale at the farm: pâtés, rillettes, foie gras, confit, manchons, gizzards, stewed duck, stuffed neck. Visit of the farm in summer, starting with a visit to the duck park and ending with a tasting.

With a surface area of 30 ha, the Orion family's vineyard is made up of 65% red and 35% white grape varieties. The wines of Domaine de la Barbinière enjoy a good reputation. The whites are a blend of Chenin and Chardonnay, and go well with shellfish and fish. The rosés are a blend of pinot noir, gamay and cabernet; the reds are a blend of cabernet, pinot noir and gamay. Several ranges are available: Silex, Eclipse (available in white and red), the Bois Bouquet, the Douée, a sweet wine, a wine made using the traditional method and Les Parcellaires.

The Coirier family have been winegrowers from father to son since 1895. In the heart of the wine village, near Fontenay-le-Comte, the mansion with its hundred-year-old cedar tree opens onto a courtyard, next to the tasting cellar. It produces white, red and rosé AOC Fiefs Vendéens Pissotte wines. The winemaker respects the natural balance of the vine to the wine. It is to note that the exploitation is in organic farming. The special vintages of the domain are raised in oak barrels of the forest of Mervent very close. Good quality wines.

Opposite Intermarché, in the heart of the marshes, Corinne Ferrer invites you to La Perle, a charming oyster bar, to taste directly your oysters and shellfish from the production of Frédéric Boucard. The room located just next to the shop is cute, in summer there is the terrace. The production is also available to take away. Among the specialities, the oysters, mussels, whelks, shrimps, the toasts of the sea and the "retour du Gois", a plate of 6 oysters and 6 clams. Conviviality and authenticity.

Brasserie Mélusine produces 100% natural craft beers. Uncompromising in the quality of the ingredients selected, the beers are free from extracts, additives and colorants. They brew some fifteen recipes, from "Love and Flowers" wheat beer with rose petals, to "Puy d'Enfer" triple beer at 8.5°, "Hellfest" India Pale Ale at 6.66° and other ephemeral beers, an organic range, and a conventional range in bottles and kegs. Mélusine Bio and Médusa won medals at the Concours Général Agricole 2024.

Situated on the slopes overlooking the Yon and Lay rivers, the vineyard is spread over 3 communes around Rosnay covering an area of about 45 hectares. The château was built in 1860. The family estate has developed with respect for tradition and the environment. A family know-how handed down from generation to generation. In a tasting cellar dating back nearly two centuries, you will discover the different vintages. An adjoining museum allows you to discover how our ancestors carried out the work in the vineyard and the maturing of the wine.

Open in 2022 in the old Doulon area in the east of Nantes! Simon and Clément embody the revival of urban farms that are developing for the pleasure of eating well and selling directly to producers. It is on Tuesday and Friday from 4:30 pm to 7 pm that we fill up with organic and seasonal vegetables. The construction of a store in hard is in progress with the rehabilitation of these old farm buildings where the market gardening was present formerly... You can now take advantage of the advice of the young farmers who are happy to share their legume recipes and, above all, their good mood! The Alouette Rit is a wink to the name of the street of Louëtrie: no doubt that the smile is present on the faces of the inhabitants who do not risk to throw names of birds so much the reception is sympathetic! To buy in short circuits, it is simple; it is enough to know it and it is here! You can also find good beers from the Tête Haute brewery and sometimes some organic fruits from the Nantes hillsides. To discover also, their little neighbors, the Good Pousse, an urban micro farm for vegetal micro sprouts on the same site.

A family passion (now supported by ten employees), these vines have been cultivated with professionalism and high standards since the end of the 19th century. Having switched to organic farming in 2015, the estate has received many awards and recognition from the profession, including the gold medal at the 2020 general agricultural competition for its "Breton" (an anjou-village-brissac), and the independent winegrowers' medal for its coteaux-de-l'aubance. The quality of their products has earned them the cooperation of many restaurateurs in the region in search of perfection.

"Le Pain des Vendanges has arrived", reads the sign. Here, everything inspires curiosity, starting with the original "surprise" éclairs! 12 different kinds of eclairs, pear-ginger, milk jam-brownies, peanut-milk chocolate, gingerbread... Frissons Citron, Double Choc, which Delphine's talented pastry chefs make delicious. Easter chocolates, homemade ice creams for schoolchildren at the start of the new school year. Ma Boulangerie is 10 years of craftsmanship mixed with little touches. Like the coconut-mango-passion saint-honoré. Who does it? Apprentice baker Léa, Sandra in the store... a whole team dedicated to giving you good bread.

Dominique and Yoan, master chocolatiers, rigorously select cocoa beans to create the finest chocolates. Handcrafted according to traditional recipes, they add their creativity to the mix. In the boutique or online, chocolate bonbons and personalized chocolates, with specialties such as croquants (roasted dried fruit, then caramelized, pre-coated with a homemade praline (cooked in a copper cauldron), sublimated with a fine layer of 100% cocoa butter chocolate), and p'tits Q... Visits and workshops available.

Fred and his team warmly welcome us to this multi-faceted store. Bakery, delicatessen, butcher shop and grocery store are all in the same space. Here, you can buy products to make a complete meal, from the aperitif to the dessert. Good products are honored with local and fresh products. Fred had this desire to offer exceptional products around a human encounter for both the teams and the customers. We enter first the bakery part which leads us to the butchery and delicatessen to finish with the cellar and delicatessen. A great address for the gourmets and epicureans of Nantes!

Méli Mélo is one of the workshops offered by the "Oser Forêt Vivante" association. The association's aim is to facilitate the professional integration of people with social and professional difficulties. With Méli Mélo, 14 employees work as kitchen assistants to help us enjoy our meals. We're delighted to discover what they have to offer. Vegetarian catering, takeaway menus or event catering. On the catering side, the workshop makes plant-based culinary preparations. There's plenty to choose from, for both private and professional customers: breakfasts, snacks, buffets, cocktails, meal trays or snacks! To your forks!

Les Ruchers du Pays Blanc is located in Herbignac. This beekeeper offers a wide selection of honeys from the Brière region, such as miel de la Presqu'île and miel de Brière. They also organize courses for those wishing to learn more about beekeeping. The Ruchers du Pays Blanc website doesn't offer online sales at the moment, but it does provide documents and videos about their operation. In addition, they have a strong social link with the ESAT in Leniphen.

The vaulted cellar is located slightly below, at the back of the store. The store houses thousands of wine and spirits references. Don't hesitate to ask the specialist team for advice! Here you'll find wine for every day and every special occasion, in every color and from every source... or almost. Bordeaux, burgundy, champagnes, beaujolais, cognac, port, creams and liqueurs, armagnac, whiskies, rums... Prices range from the very affordable to the mind-boggling: oenologists, run! Also a wide range of foreign spirits (ouzo, raki, sake or vodkas) and wines (New Zealand, Chile, Hungary, Algeria).

Just looking at the queue, which sometimes stretches out into the street, you know you're in the best butcher's shop in town. This is a real butcher's shop, where the meat is de-veined before being weighed! Advice is given on how best to prepare and cook the meat. The charcuterie is made from Mayenne pork. Grandma's rillettes, with chunks, are a big hit... The many cooked dishes are also very appetizing: brandade de morue, moussaka, gratins, quiches, pizzas... On Saturday lunchtimes, a special dish is announced: make your reservation! It's time to check out, but take a good look around: there's still a small delicatessen corner (mainly tinned vegetables), as well as honey and gingerbread.

Divided between two beekeeping farms in the Vendée and Savennières, Anthony and Mathilde juggle their two operations. Started more than 20 years ago, the farm has more than 300 hives producing chestnut, hawthorn, lime, acacia honey... Au Vent des Abeilles offers other products such as pollen, propolis and royal jelly, natural sweets with a variety of nougat, gingerbread and onion or fig chutney prepared with honey. In Savennières it is Evelyne and François who receive and sell all the productions.

Saveurs du monde is a grocery store located on the Arago market in Les Sables-d'Olonne. Visitors can find a wide variety of products from all over the world. The grocery store offers in-store shopping services, enabling customers to discover and purchase exotic and authentic products.

In this district, which is undergoing a major transformation from La Prairie au Duc on the Ile de Nantes, the inhabitants are delighted to be able to count on Laiterie Gilbert since November 2019 to stock up on cheese, cold meats, delicatessen and cream products. It is headed by Geoffroy Denaud, a Parisian who left finance to move to Nantes: a new city, a new life, a new store. This cheese enthusiast spent his holidays with farmers in the mountain pastures. It was the values of the company created in 1948 that made him decide to open this franchise: respect for the environment with local products, no preservatives, colourings or added flavours, a fair approach with producers, special attention to transport and packaging to limit the carbon footprint. Here you can discover a wide variety of cheeses such as tomme aux fleurs, beaufort, kaltbach, saint-marcellin and gorgonzola fondant with a spoon, but also goat's milk cheese from the farm of La Tremblaye, coulommiers from the Dongé cheese dairy, Revard soft cheese with truffles or even mont-d'or... As a fan of raclette, you will be glazed with a dozen flavours: smoked, peppery, mustard, blue, bear's garlic, walnut, morbier, truffle, mushroom, goat, Espelette sheep. Compose your raclette platter by mixing cheese and charcuterie. You can also buy potatoes and get a raclette machine. Geoffroy thought of everything, even bottles of wine to accompany your tasting! And many partnerships for your greatest pleasure with the Boutique des Éleveurs, Cavavin, Barapom or Éclats de riz?

Local products, wines, primeurs and local and Breton food products. This trade has been taking place over the last two years and works as producers and artisans in the region. Gien factory, salt pots, but also depositary of famous Saint Michel patties, everything is  !

The Nantes-based organic store chain, created in 1985, is present through 7 stores in Nantes and its agglomeration. The Sainte-Luce-sur-Loire store, opened in 2017, is located in the artisanal zone near the route de Paris. With a surface area of 710 m², the place is airy and spacious, the aisles are wide and you can easily find the departments that can be spotted by the indications at the top of the walls: butchery, delicatessen, cheese shop, breads and pastries, fruits and vegetables, drinks and wines but also a gluten-free department, bulk groceries, food supplements, cosmetics, hygiene and cleaning products. We also discover a water osmosis machine to fill your reusable bottle directly in still or sparkling water... An ingenious idea to reduce waste! As a reminder, the concept of the store is simple: if you wish, you can join the organic products consumers' cooperative, and you will then be entitled to a 10% discount at each checkout in all Chlorophylle stores. To consume organic products in an eco-responsible and fair way is the credo of Chlorophylle, the lung of the planet!

The Pontlieue market is undoubtedly the city's most popular. With over 150 traders on Sundays, it's hard to get around, let alone park. A traffic lane is often requisitioned to cope with the flood of strollers. On Wednesdays, it's a little easier to breathe, with around 30 merchants. Many are small producers (market gardeners, cheesemakers, bakers, etc.) from the rural areas around Le Mans. We tread water, but eventually make some progress... a little. The center of the market is reserved for clothing vendors, where fashions are misused to undercut prices. This lively market often ends with a drink in one of the nearby cafés. Practical: the Durand-Vaillant tramway station is at the entrance to the market.

Alain Gambier and his wife propose the sale and tasting of apple and cider juice, as well as vinegar. Every cider has its own taste. Don't hesitate to taste theirs. The land has taste! The Ferme farm is part of the "Welcome to the Farm" network. These ducks operators will therefore be pleased to receive you and make you discover their profession. They also produce their cereals and their chickens, the Rental label. 

Biscuits like no other! If you want to taste them but also to know the secrets of their manufacture, go to the biscuit factory Le Vinaillou. The manager of the company opens his workshops to all the curious. Sweet or savoury, Le Vinaillou's biscuits can be eaten as an aperitif as well as a dessert, such as butter and lemon cakes, biscuits made with Cabernet-d'Anjou or even made with hypocras, a spicy medieval aperitif. A tip: if you want to see the biscuit maker at work, come preferably in the morning.

At 42 avenue de la Plage, there is a sweet smell of rotisserie, which invites us to do as the faithful customers of La Rôtisserie de la Plage, installed for many years in the Demoiselles district. On the spit, farm chickens regularly basted with a good home-made juice, that you can take away whole or in pieces. Accompany this delicious chicken with fried potatoes: an easy dish for those who are on vacation or do not want to cook. Other suggestions on weekends: suckling pig!

The Bergerie du Brandais specializes in the production of organic sheep milk. Ravon and his wife raise 350 Lacaune ewes of the Averyonnaise breed. These ewes graze between 9 and 11 months. They also have a herd of 25 cows. Created in 2019, their farm is specialized in cheese processing, of which you will find the following products for sale at the farm: ewe's milk cheese, meat sales (lamb, veal). On Wednesdays you can watch the milking of the ewes (from Easter to mid-August).

The Flea Market, an institution. Every second Sunday of the month, bargain hunters flock to the quays of the Loire where 80 second-hand dealers display their wonders. In 2006, the Flea Market received the France-Europe Antiques Quality label, which recognizes the quality of the goods on display. Furniture, unusual objects, lace, old books, there is something for everyone! In May, the flea market celebrates spring and takes nature and gardens as its theme. The stalls are set up in the alleys and the animations and tastings are going well. Charm and bargains!

You choose your menu and JD Chef handles the rest. It has the dishes in your kitchen and serves the service at your table. It can be assisted by a professional hotel master according to the number of guests. It is advisable to contact this caterer well in advance - two to three weeks is a good time - to take the time necessary to organise the benefit at best.

On the way to the visit. You have to go half way (equal treatment for both North and South access) from the gallery to pass the electronic portals to the hyper. Unless you have a question? Stop at the welcome point, in this case, and don't forget to take a ticket to claim your turn, it just starts. Rather wait, on the way. We start with telephony and we continue with laptops, if you drive PC. We're moving in the huge rays, and you discover "Auchan mind." A little is lost between all the offers: self-discount for tight budgets (as well as responsible discount), the Mmm line! for the greedy, organic products AB, the strokes of the brand, not to mention the ticketing and travel service… It is still convenient to find everything in the same place.

With 17 stores in France, family Mary shows that honey and its benefits remain a trend. " Feeling good thanks to the trésor of bees ", this is an idea and a gold slogan. Family Mary has been specialized in organic honey and its derivatives since 1921. Know-how that you can enjoy depending on what you want to achieve: relaxation, immunity and beauty. Whether you choose an edible product or not, it will delight you with its originality or its nutritious, benevolent and stimulating contribution. By entering the store, don't trust your small size; it is full of products to panic a bee: From royal jelly, infusions, pollen, gingerbread, but also honey shampoos, products to help digestion, honey mustard, freeze to relax and regenerate painful joints… You don't hesitate to taste a honey. Counsel: test the Caramiel… a true caramel and honey delight.

He is THE snail specialist in the Vendée! Raised in the open air, the snails are cooked with natural products, in the tradition: stuffed snail shells, mini-snail queens, snail beads, cabbages or wafers stuffed with snails, stuffed potatoes... Snails which benefit from the AB label, organic farming. The visit ends with a tasting. And also a range of natural cosmetic products made from organic snails from the Vendée with many virtues; cream rich in allantoin, collagen and elastin.

Another franchise chain in the wine distribution sector. This one also specializes in beers. Myriam and her team welcome you to this V and B in Allonnes. For those who don't yet know, "V and B" stands for "Vins et Bières", and its establishments are generally located in business parks on the outskirts of large and medium-sized towns all over France. While the welcome and advice are pleasant and professional, and there's plenty of entertainment on offer, we miss the convivial atmosphere of city-center bars. Fortunately, one doesn't exclude the other!

An out-of-the-way store with a reputation that knows no local boundaries. Here, you can be sure of fresh fish, shellfish and crustaceans. For restaurateurs, wholesale is also assured. The address is so well known that you may find yourself queuing once to be served, and a second time to pay at the counter (especially on weekends). It's a time investment you'll be rewarded for, firstly by watching the staff prepare a fish at breakneck speed, and secondly by eating your seafood - and that's what it's all about. During the festive season, the seafood platters (composed or to be composed) attract even more people, and are the best in town. You'll also find fresh vegetables and, above all, organic lemons and white wine. Last but not least, we also sell our products at 8 markets in Mance: on Fridays at Place Washington, on Saturdays at Cité des Pins and on Sundays at Jacobins and Pontlieue.