Gourmet products local specialties and wines Pays d'Issoire

A pioneer of artisanal distillation in the Puy-de-Dôme, the distillery was opened in 2021 in Brassac-les-Mines. Quentin, a Clermont-Ferrand native and distilling oenologist, decided to return to Auvergne after years of apprenticeship in Cognac. He works with local and French products (volcano water, whisky barley...) to create unique, high-quality spirits. No flavoring or sugar is added. The range of spirits is regularly enriched: whisky, gin, rum... The distillery's products can be found in restaurants, wine shops and online.

The Issoire market is the second largest in the Puy-de-Dôme. Every Saturday morning, local traders and producers gather in the streets of the town center. From Place de la République to Place de la Montagne, via Rue Berbiziale, it's the perfect time to come and meet the many producers and merchants, and stock up on local produce. You'll love strolling along and discovering new flavours. The shopkeepers are happy to let you taste their products and give you valuable advice.

David works on the family estate to offer a fine range of wines. For tasting, he offers Volcanik, a 100% Gamay red, with notes of Morello cherry and a subtle peppery finish, made from century-old vines grown on basalt soil. He also produces red, white and rosé cuvées called Les Fesses, a funny name that simply comes from the locality of the same name where the grapes grow. A prestige cuvée, aged in oak barrels, is also available. You're sure to find something to please your guests!

A modern cellar at the end of the village, a young couple, welcoming and very well aware of marketing, an inimitable local: the Sauvat estate is part of unavoidable department! Their very elaborate vintages, vinified and trees carefully, have their place on the best tables. The tasting cellar regularly hosts art exhibitions and local produce. To discover without delaying more! Miss red, pink and white.

Looking for local, French-made products? Want to change your way of consuming? Make a stop at the Boutik' d'Avenir. Here, local products are the stars. Fruits and vegetables, meats, delicatessen, honeys, cookies... the proposal is rich and organic for many items. It is possible to stop for a glass of fruit juice or an ice cream... local of course! Educational workshops are regularly organized for children. An opportunity to make them aware of environmental issues.

Founded in 1911, the Maison Juilhard is a gourmet address where temptations are not lacking! From the traditional fruit tarts to the chocolates made in the workshops, the fruit jellies (an Auvergne speciality) and other confectionery, you will be spoilt for choice! You can also try one of the house creations or an ice cream with good farm milk. Discover three other stores in Saint-Amant-Tallande (the historical one), Le Mont-Dore and Orcival.

Since 2021, this young craft microbrewery has been producing beers with local flavors, using cereals grown and malted in Auvergne and organic raw materials (hazelnut flour, lemon thyme, garden sage...). You will discover a range of four beers - white, blonde, amber and IPA - as well as ephemeral beers according to the seasons and occasions. To learn more about the production process (and to participate in a small tasting), we advise you to follow a guided tour!

Romuald Rémy, a finalist in the Grand Prix International de la Chocolaterie in 2002, in the "Un des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France" competition in the Chocolatier-Confiseur category in 2018, and ranked by Gault & Millau, concocts tasty recipes. Using a base of quality chocolate, he works the flavors to give birth to exceptional creations. Macaroons, fruit jellies, nougats: he makes you want to taste his world. He offers a variety of workshops.

Open since 1993, Au Bon Coteau is the ideal place to find the right bottle of wine. Pierre Moulin and his son welcome you to share their passion for good wine. The owners are there to help you in your choice. Pierre, the son, likes above all to put forward the human being behind the bottle and will gladly tell you about the men who made it before letting you taste it. The shop can welcome small groups for tastings and even offers a bar and a terrace where it is possible to taste boards and wine.

Here, everything is done to combine the pleasure of the eyes and the taste buds. An old style front, a nicely decorated and stocked shop window, elegant and tasty pastries, melting chocolates, pastries with a good taste of butter... If the classic products are highlighted, you will also find fruit jellies from Auvergne, old-fashioned sweets or even pretty coated dried fruits. Each product is worked with passion. An address not to be missed in Issoire for gourmets and lovers of beautiful pastries.

This cheese dairy has been in existence since 1961, when the Houlbert family took it over. The choice is vast: creamy Saint-Nectaire, blue-veined Fourme, thick-rind Cantal, tangy Gaperon, goat's cheese in all its forms... Some cheeses mature in the crèmerie's cellars. Always in search of innovation, the dairy created its own cheese: l'Yssoirien, made from pasteurized cow's milk. Since then, it has been prepared in a variety of recipes. In the evening, you can enjoy a delicious fondue (max. 10 people).

When you walk through the doors of Arthur's bakery-pastry shop, you will discover the city's emblematic cake: the Supreme. Slightly crunchy, soft and meringue, it contains a delicious praline cream. As soon as you taste it, you'll love it. The wonderful world does not stop here for the gourmets. In the window, huge meringues are presented. The almond tuiles and cookies are also eye-catching in their size and appearance. Their taste and cooking are perfect. The welcome is warm and the advice is judicious.

Lasagne, caponata, arancini: it's not just the names that sound Italian here, but the flavours and colors that take us away from the Mediterranean towards the land of la dolce vita. On the grocery side, you'll find all the products you need to concoct a good Southern dish (pasta, risotto, truffle oil...). The catering side, where each dish seems to be more delicious than the next, and where you can't decide between gnocchi, involtini, cannelloni di magro and other recipes from Italy. You'll have to come back to taste it all!

To visit this producer's store, you will have to leave downtown Issoire, but the trip is worth it! In addition to seasonal fruits and vegetables, the wooden shelves are filled with delicious products, enough to compose a gourmet basket 100% local. You will find jams made in Sauxillanges, soaps from the "Les Mains Sales" soap factory in Champeix, fruit syrups, wines and craft beers, preserves... In the cheese department, the farmhouse Saint-Nectaire cheese will surely make you look at it because its price is attractive.

Henri and Chrystel Ducros are the fifth generation of farmers to grow delicious red fruit in open fields. They then transform their harvest into tasty jams with high fruit content (raspberry, rhubarb...), syrups (blackberry, blackcurrant...), coulis, vinegars and fruit jellies. All without additives or preservatives, just good fruit and sugar. You can also find them on Saturday mornings at the Issoire market.

Yvan Bernard, a former student of the Beaune oenology school, produces certified organic wines with Audrey Baldassin, under the appellation Les Chemins de l'Arkose, which pays tribute to the local stone. Yvan Bernard has quickly established himself as one of the rising stars of the Auvergne wine scene. Yvan and Audrey's biodynamic wines are respectful of the environment and nature. The estate covers almost 12 hectares, in the communes of Montpeyroux, La Sauvetat, Authezat, Corent and Boudes. Tours of the winery are available by appointment.

On the second floor of a blond stone house typical of Montpeyroux, you'll find a multi-faceted place. It's both a delicatessen with typical Auvergne products: local beer, jams, honey, fruit jellies, walnut oil, etc., and a brocante-deco store featuring artists' works. Extend your visit with an Italian ice cream or a platter of Auvergne cheeses and charcuterie on the terrace: it offers a magnificent view of the church and the Val d'Allier.

The truffle is an exceptional product whose secrets are well kept... But when a village in Auvergne has the first experimental truffle field in Europe that produces cedar trees, as well as 100 oak and 100 hazelnut trees, we must salute it. Patrick Peron is a lover of this product. His tuber melanosporum (black truffle) and tuber uncinatum (autumn truffle) are of an extreme quality. To realize this, tastings and visits take place during the season: from the end of May to the end of August/September for the summer truffle, from September to December for the autumn truffle.

Caroline recently took over her parents' farm in the Couze Pavin valley. Her micro-farm offers direct sales of walnuts and hazelnuts, as well as summer truffles and Burgundy truffles in season. Market garden produce will soon be added.