Letter from Caumale
Dear visitors and friends of Caumale,
Situated in the heart of Gabardan, fief of Gaston Phébus and Jeanne d’Albret (the mother of Henri IV), Caumale is a chateau in the middle of Armagnac: its imposing towers and façades are tempered in the interior court of the wine storehouse by the curve of the staircase tower and the triple genoise roofs.
This southern abode of explorers is dominated by a colonial bell-tower, which was brought back by Delisle’s ship and represents the only lasting memory of Jérémy’s plantation in Saint-Domingue in the 18th century.
To the right of the entrance, there are long wine storehouses in the first round tower, and dye rooms across from the colonial kitchen garden where two black men, Jason and l’Horizon, lived in a straw hut among the dye plants, textiles, spices and tobacco, all closed away behind the gates.
Besides the garden, there are drying rooms located on the first floor and in the barns: these house various carts, as well as stores of coffee, cacao beans, cotton and indigo and, above all, little casks of armagnac.
Across from there, the farm.
Come rediscover the refined art of chocolate making through our collection of chocolate pots from the 18th and 19th centuries. Walk in the steps of Gabriel de Clieu: Navy Officer under Louis XV, future governor of Martinique, and the very first to plant coffee on the islands.
A guaranteed bit of exotic flavor in the heart of the Landes !
Geneviève FABRE
