Tasting Olive Oil in the Alpilles

Few products are as deeply connected to Provence as olive oil. Long before lavender became the region's most recognisable image, olive trees shaped its agriculture, cuisine and landscape. The groves that cover the southern slopes of the Alpilles remain among the clearest expressions of that relationship, and Moulin Castelas provides one of the most accessible ways to understand it.

Founded by Catherine and Jean-Benoît Hugues after their return to Provence in 1997, the estate occupies olive groves beneath the rocky silhouette of Les Baux de Provence. Today, the family cultivates more than one hundred acres within the AOP Vallée des Baux de Provence, producing oils from the four traditional varieties that define the appellation: Salonenque, Aglandau, Grossane and Verdale.

The experience begins with an introduction to olive cultivation and the operation of the mill itself. Visitors follow the journey from grove to bottle, learning how olives are harvested and pressed, and how timing, variety and terroir influence the final oil. The process is explained with the same attention to detail more commonly associated with wine.

The tasting that follows is the heart of the experience. Participants compare oils with distinct aromatic profiles, from delicate and grassy expressions to more structured oils marked by pepper, almond and fresh herbs. The exercise reveals that olive oil, like wine, carries the character of a place.

For NOTES, Tasting Olive Oil in the Alpilles matters because it offers a direct encounter with one of Provence's essential agricultural traditions. More than a tasting, it is a lesson in landscape, terroir and the enduring relationship between the Alpilles and the olive tree.