La fidèle Mina vient de débusquer une truffe de 70 grammes. Pour Pierre Benau, il est temps de sortir un morceau de Coeur de meule ! Midi Libre – Patrice Espinasse
A Montbazin, tout près du joliment rénové moulin de Juffet, Pierre Benau est l'un des derniers trufficulteurs du bassin de Thau à exploiter le diamant noir.
The sun's rays generously illuminate the majestic wings of the renovated Juffet mill. Although dating back to the 15th century, the grinding machine, which is said to have belonged to the bishops of Maguelone, is perhaps not the oldest on these Montbazine lands.
A few meters away, underground, another ancient treasure is familiar to the place: the truffle. That's good timing: it's digging day this Friday, December 6.
As he has been doing with love and passion for nearly ten years, Pierre Benau is at the helm. On his plot protected by video surveillance cameras, the truffle grower, one of the last in the Thau basin, surveys the 300 or so sites.
The complementarity of holm oaks and turkey oaks
But the real star here is Mina, 9 years old. A border collie crossed with a labrador, the dog sniffs the earth under each holm oak and each turkey oak, planted alternately on this 80 ares plot.“There is a complementarity between these two trees. Planted next to each other, their roots intertwine and carbon passes more easily. Here too, we are diversifying!”, smiles Pierre Benau.
And Mina has a keen nose: she is not mistaken. A stop and a scratch is the assurance of the presence of tuber melanosporum underground. You then have to be skillful to dig up the black diamond: the animal's paws, like a man's knife or cavadou, can quickly cut the truffle, which sometimes surfaces, sometimes hides more than 20 centimeters underground, but more commonly between 10 and 15 centimeters.
“You have to pay cash in Coeur de Meule because the house doesn't give credit!”
Mina is valiant. But any work that deserves a salary, the dog immediately demands its reward from its master. A truffle ? A piece of cheese! “And some Cœur de Meule, please. You have to pay cash because the house doesn't give credit!”, laughs the septuagenarian.
The harvest of the day is rather good: more than 600 grams, for want of a spectacular specimen. “They are only just beginning to ripen, explains Pierre Benau. This is one of the effects of climate change. Back then, we started to have ripe truffles as early as November 15. Today, they take longer to ripen, especially the first ones. We often have to wait until the beginning of December.”
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000On the markets of Sète and Villeveyrac
Five weeks of markets in Villeveyrac, Sète and elsewhere
Saturday January 4: "Marché truffle and wine à Laurens
Sunday January 12: 19th "Truffle Festival", & ;agrave; Saint-Geniès des Mourgues
Sunday January 19: 5th “Truffle, wine and local produce festival” in Saint-Guilhem le Désert; 3rd Truffle Festival of Sète.
Sunday January 26: 16th "Truffle and Terroir Festival" ; à Claret
Saturday February 1: 4th "Truffle Festival& quot; à Villeveyrac.
Sunday February 9:28th “Farmers' Day” in Saint-Jean-de-Buèges.
Here we are. The truffle grower has already pulled out of the ground some 2.5 kg of black gold. The collection will
Label of truffles canned in Villeveyrac by Étienne Bosc, who was not a close relative of the commissioner Toussaint Bosc. DR will continue until the end of February.
In the meantime, Pierre Benau will have offered truffles from the Juffet mill on the markets of Sète and Villeveyrac. No miracle, alas, for enthusiasts: what is rare is expensive. If the price of the black diamond did not exceed 600 euros per kilo on the market of Lalbenque (Lot) at the beginning of December, it will probably be necessary to pay more, at the beginning of 2025, to treat yourself to a little of this tuber melanosporum which will enhance your omelette.
When 4.5 tons of truffles left the Thau basin!
This was before the drop in production due to climate change and rising temperatures. The black diamond has a long and rich history with the Thau basin. There are many documents showing its presence in the scrubland of the hinterland, in Poussan, Gigean, Mireval, Vic-la-Gardiole, Loupian, Saint-Pons-de-Mauchiens, Cournonterral, Montbazin… There is even mention of its presence of the tuber melanosporum on Mont Saint-Clair!
But it is in the territory of Villeveyrac that the truffle has undoubtedly been the most present, and even omnipresent, for decades. The harvest and sale constituted a valuable additional source of income for winegrowers when the vines were ravaged by phylloxera.
At the end of the 19th century, around fifty families lived off the sale of black diamonds in Villeveyrac. In an article published in the municipal bulletin on the occasion of the 1st Truffle Festival, Adrien Tyrlik and his friend Gilio, a great truffle enthusiast, recalled the weight of the famous mushroom. Drawing on letters received by Toussaint Bosc, they reveal that the village grocer and lemonade seller was also a truffle commissioner in the 1880s and that his business partner was one of the biggest black diamond traders in France, Maurice Planche from Uzétien, who supplied the Elysée Palace.
We also learn that an average of 300 to 500 kg of truffles left Villeveyrac each year. And that the year 1889 was exceptionally abundant with a total of… 4553 kg shipped from the Thau basin!
Another document from the Society for Historical and Scientific Studies of Sète and its region (Sehsser) confirms these elements. And reveals the price of the precious mushroom at the time: 2.5 francs per kilo given to the cavers for a resale price by the merchant at Christmas (1887) at 8.5 francs. The following year of abundance, the price fell to 4 francs. A blessed time.
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