A Long Lazy Weekend at Crillon Le Brave - a hilltop boutique hotel in Provence
Television ads have come a long way - look back and many were eye-wateringly bad, while some of the epic Christmas adverts today could win movie awards.
But there were one or two memorable mini-masterpieces that hit screens in the 1960s and 70s - one of the first stand-out artistic creations being an evocative Dubonnet ad’ showing a young woman walking through gorgeous French countryside, backed by Canteloube’s haunting Shepherd’s Song.
I was too young to taste Dubonnet at the time, and never have since - but I can still remember sitting in a bleak UK council estate in winter dreaming of the delights of a balmy Southern France. For most viewers the advert didn’t so much sell some obscure alcoholic drink as convey a superior, warmer, more exotic, romantic lifestyle.
You can imagine how I pinched myself, then, when I recently found myself enjoying a picnic deep in the Provencal hills with not one, but six, young women - working my way through wonderful local French food and wine in the strong heat of an autumn sun.
It was one of those grab-this-and-keep-it-forever moments. Maybe it was the cool and surprisingly delicious Provencal rose, but I lay there thinking that it might well be that life would never, ever, be quite as good as this again.
But then, that was something I felt time and again during the long weekend I spent at an amazing, breathtakingly, good hotel called Crillon Le Brave.
Its staff had laid on the picnic, brought us the bikes so we would could cycle through beautiful countryside to the picturesque old quarry (where they used to get the sand to make Perrier and, for all I know, Dubonnet bottles), and generally arranged our every need and happiness for days on end.
Of all the hotels in all the world, I end up writing about this one…
It’s rare that I concentrate on just one establishment. I will this time, though, because I was so impressed and because all this luscious loveliness is just a two hour flight from the UK..
Crillon Le Brave sits at the top of a small hill amid vineyards
Let me describe the basics of Crillon Le Brave to give you some idea of why I should write about just one hotel…. Most of us know and love the type of medieval hilltop villages they go in for around the Mediterranean. Southern France is rich in them, as are parts of Spain and Italy. But, although beautiful to look at, they can sometimes feel austere and unwelcoming - which is actually part of their nature because that is what they were designed to be in more troubled times.
Now imagine the concept of buying-up almost the entire upper half of such a village, and turning the various historic houses, barns, turrets and other sundry buildings into a single boutique hotel.
View from my bedroom window at Crillon Le Brave
Throw in a good swimming pool with views out over the valley, add a couple of amazing restaurants, revamp each and every one of the old homes and decorate them with different classy traditional French themes, and what you end up with is something unique and un-copy-able. Like Crillon Le Brave.
Located 25 miles northeast of Avignon, the 36-bedroom hotel looks out over miles and miles of vineyards and olive groves. The stunning views are dominated by vast Mount Ventoux, which all keen cyclists will know only too well (think: Tour de France).
What drew me to the place, you may not be surprised to hear, was not the cycling but the promise of delicious food. And whether I was feasting on a gourmet dinner at the signature Restaurant Jérôme Blanchet, celebrating local, rustic produce at Bistrot 40k, or having a quick, casual breakfast or lunch at Le Grange, I was hugely delighted by the extensive traditional French fare on offer at this five-star hotel.
Local rose wine is a speciality
Cheese features large, and Crillon le Brave’s resident Maître fromagère Claudine Vigier, “curates” the extensive selection daily - all sourced from her local cheese shop in Carpentras.
Claudine recommended me to try fourme des dentelles affiné au Beaumes de Venise (blue cheese flavoured with muscat de Beaumes de Venise), le dartagnant affiné au marc de Châteauneuf du Pape (cow milk, ripened with Châteauneuf du Pape wine), the secret de Provence ripened with Ventoux truffles, and the Tournesol with raisins and infused with bourbon.
Cheeses of Provence
In an attempt to work-off all that cheese and explore the surrounding area, the team at Crillon le Brave arranged our cycle ride to Bedoin, a popular neighbouring village spot boasting a local market. We did not, thank God, ride up Mont Ventoux, but enjoyed our picnic instead. Then it was a lazy pedal over to the charming village of Mormoiron, home to beautiful old fountains and a good deal of wine production.
The Ventoux Vineyards make up only a portion of Crillon le Brave’s impressive 35-page wine list, put together by the hotel’s resident wine sommelier, Benoit Liébus who gave us one of the most interesting talks on local viniculture that’s its been my pleasure to enjoy.
Among the wines we tasted with Benoit were Vin de pays du Vaucluse viognier, Domaine du tix 2015 blanc, Ventoux, Terrasses d’éole, Mistrau, 2014 rouge, Ventoux, and Domaine de Fondrèche, 2016 rosé.
Oddly enough, we were not offered Dubonnet. However, the wonderful Gallic dream which that company’s old TV advert promised all those years ago rang out long and loud for me the other day long after the picnic. As I lay in my immense bed in a classily converted room high in the ancient village I could swear I heard some distant voice singing Canteloube’s Shepherd Song out there in the warm moonlight.
View from the hotel
FACT FILE
Nightly rates at Crillon le Brave are available from €330/£293 per room per night for two people sharing a classic room including breakfast.
To book, email reservations@crillonlebrave.com, or telephone +33 (04) 90 65 61 61; www.crillonlebrave.com
Old sand quarry where they first took raw materials for the early Perrier bottles
There are regular flights from various UK airports ( including Bristol Airport) to Marseille (one hour’s drive from Crillon Le Brave) and Nice (2.5 hours) at certain times of the year on Easy Jet.
