100% French and organic: first harvest of aloe vera on the borders of Aude and the Pyrénées-Orientales

It took five long years of reflection, research and documentation before Laurent Maynadier, a winegrower in Fitou (Aude) for 13 generations, managed to complete his very first harvest of aloe vera a few days ago. “We want to bring something new to the French market, an organic and 100% French drink, since what exists is made from fillets of aloe leaves that come from abroad. And we created our own processing line for the gel extracted from these leaves,” he explains.

“The economic situation is no longer tenable”

Six people are working on picking, on a plot of land on his Champs des Sœurs estate, on the borders of Aude and the Pyrénées-Orientales. “Our wine production has fallen by half. In the medium term, the economic situation is no longer tenable. The periods of drought are now so severe that some of our plots will no longer be cultivable in the medium term. In some years, we received barely more than 250 mm of rain compared to 500 to 600 mm in normal years. We therefore need to diversify, move towards growing markets,” continues Laurent Maynadier.

It will produce just over 4,000 bottles of this aloe vera drink flavored with lemon juice or pomegranate juice. “And these are necessarily organic juices” he insists. To carry out the experiment which will become a production sector, Laurent Maynadier looked at the question of Aloe vera which requires little maintenance, which fears frost but only from – 2°. And which ultimately requires relatively little water for its growth, fifty times less than the vine. He went to understand the mechanisms of this culture in the south of Spain, in Murcia. And he came back with the certainty that aloe vera is indeed the best solution, adapted to the current climate of the maritime Corbières.

Around ten farmers are preparing

Laurent Maynadier chose a variety rich in acemannan, an ultra-hydrating, nourishing and tissue repairing molecule, excellent for improving the gastric chain. To date, around ten farmers are preparing to plant or develop their first plots of aloe vera, both in Aude and in the Pyrénées-Orientales. Champ des Sœurs’ aloe drinks are prepared in the estate’s processing laboratory. They are packaged in the premises of Sibio, a group of producers in Thuir (Pyrénées-Orientales). The first small bottles of Laurent Maynadier will be distributed locally between Narbonne and Perpignan. To start.