Truffles and truffle growing
Xavier Mathiaud grows truffles at Gentillou, in the commune of Saint-Martin-des-Combes, under the name Ma Terre Première. He hunts truffles with his dog, sells his fresh truffles directly, and advises landowners who want to plant a truffle orchard or bring an existing one back into production.
In pictures
Further information
Contact
Xavier Mathiaud
Telephone
07 60 52 41 25
Address
Gentillou
24140 Saint-Martin-des-Combes
Website
www.materrepremiere.fr
The producer and the place
Ma Terre Première is based at Gentillou, a hamlet in the commune of Saint-Martin-des-Combes. Xavier Mathiaud has been growing truffles there for seventeen years, according to his own account on his website. His work runs from the ground up: assessing whether a plot can carry truffles, with soil analysis referred to an independent laboratory where needed, planting mycorrhized trees (holm oak, downy oak, hornbeam, turkey oak, hazel), maintaining truffle orchards from planting through to production, locating wild truffle ground, and valuing land with truffle potential when a property is bought or sold.
What they produce
He hunts with Rigo, a lagotto romagnolo, and also reads the truffle flies when the weather allows. He sells fresh truffles, ordered directly from him by telephone, by email or through his social media pages. His website also sets out how he keeps truffles, for a few days or for a season, and the plain ways he serves them: with butter, with egg, with cheese. His tastings are served with a Pécharmant or a Bergerac wine.
At the château
Among the formats he lists, from spring to autumn, is a tasting of about two hours, held where you are staying, around the truffle and what he has learned of it. Anyone wanting him at the château arranges it directly with him: he sets the terms and invoices you himself. His truffle orchard visits are booked in the same way. From spring to autumn they last about three hours and include a truffle hunting demonstration and a tasting. In winter, during the truffle season, the outing lasts about five hours and, on Mondays from December to February, begins with a market walk where he explains how prices are set.
Seasonal rental
Rent the Château de Montastruc for your event
Ten bedrooms, a 20-hectare park and a swimming pool, for twenty people, a week or more. Send your dates and you will receive the availability and the rate for that period.
