Huile d'olive de Nîmes

The trade association describes itself as having been formed in 1996 under the name Syndicat des Oléiculteurs du Gard, with the aim of obtaining two Appellations d'Origine Contrôlée: Olive de Nîmes and Huile d'Olive de Nîmes, across a geographical area of 183 communes in the Gard and 40 communes in the Hérault. These two appellations came into being in November 2004 for the oil and in October 2006 for the table olive.

Since October 2007, the trade association has become an Organisme de Défense et de Gestion (ODG), under the name Syndicat des AOP Olive et Huile d'Olive de Nîmes.

Huilerie Richard describes itself as an artisan oil miller, producing olive oils and vegetable oils since 1885. It prides itself on a family spirit upholding the tradition of "oil producers and composers of flavours", across four mills — in Nyons, Uzès, and Les Mées for olive oil, and in Montoison for walnut, hazelnut, and toasted rapeseed oils. The house offers mill tours by appointment. Its range includes PDO (AOP) olive oils from Nyons and Provence — including an organic selection —, olives and tapenades, as well as sweet and savoury delicacies. It sells its products through a network of eleven shops (Nyons, Uzès, Les Mées, Montoison, Aouste-sur-Sye, Tain-l'Hermitage, Lyon, Grenoble) and door-to-door sales representatives.

The company was founded in 1882 in Nîmes by Paul and Caroline Robert, originally as a mill and merchant business for olive oils and seeds. The historic frost of 1956 destroyed the original mill; the business was revived in 2004 in Beaucaire under the name Moulin à huile Nicolas, before a second mill opened in 2019 in Cabrières, "in the heart of the Picholine olive groves that give rise to the prized PDO (AOP) Huile d'Olive de Nîmes". The enterprise now boasts 4,000 olive trees and three extraction lines, including the largest in France.

It is at the Cabrières mill that the PDO Huile d'Olive de Nîmes marketed by the house is extracted — an extra-virgin oil, guaranteed pressed within the year, produced from a minimum of 70% Picholine olives.

In Collias, a Gard village situated on the banks of the Gardon, not far from the Pont du Gard, Éric Argenson tends his olive trees and presses his oil under the name Hautes Herbes. The orchard was planted in 2002 — 1,200 olive trees across 5 contiguous hectares, amid the pebbles of the Plaine des Costières — and the farm manages it entirely under organic agriculture, without ploughing, with permanent grass cover mown twice a year to curb fire risk. Part of the orchard meets the specifications for PDO (AOP) Huile d'Olive de Nîmes, whilst the other is planted with varieties selected to diversify the aromatic profiles.

Harvesting is carried out using electric combs or by hand for the less laden trees; the olives, stored in slatted crates, are transported to the mill and pressed the very same day, after which the oil is kept in glass demijohns before being stored in stainless-steel vats at the estate. Picholine — also known as "Plant de Collias", native to the Gard — accounts for 80% of production under PDO; depending on the harvest period between October and December, it develops aromas of plum, tropical fruit, or apple, with a characteristic bitterness and pungency on the finish.

The range features three cuvées: "Nîmes Confidentiel", under PDO Huile d'olive de Nîmes (80% Picholine, green fruity); "Hautes Herbes", a blend of Picholine, Manzanille, and Bouteillon (green fruity); and "Carambole", a blend of Négrette, Olivière, and Aveyraude (ripe fruity). Tastings take place on site by appointment, and the bottles can also be found at a few local gourmet addresses, such as the Boutique de Malaïgue or the Épicerie Gaiffier in Uzès.

Domaine de Pierredon is a family estate dating back several generations, run today by Gilles and Léa Granier in Estézargues, in the Gard. On the Signargues plateau, some fifteen hectares of olive trees classified under the Huile d'olive de Nîmes PDO (AOP) stand alongside the estate's vines, apricot trees, and cherry trees; certain trees, planted several centuries ago on a terroir of rolled Rhône pebbles and clay-limestone soil, produce olives of exceptional quality potential. Cultivated without irrigation, the olive groves yield three varieties — Aglandau, Picholine, and Bouteillan — harvested entirely by hand, each at its optimal ripeness; extraction takes place immediately after picking to limit the fermentation of the olives, at the estate's mill, which presses its own fruit into pure juice.

Domaine de Pierredon olive oil has won awards at all national and international competitions: the estate has received the Prix d'Excellence at the Concours Général Agricole seven times — 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2023 —, the highest distinction awarded by the Minister of Agriculture to the finest French producer. Gilles Granier was made Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite agricole in 2010, then elevated to the rank of Officier in 2017. The estate can be visited freely or in groups, free of charge, with a tasting, from Monday to Saturday.