The last stop on my visit to the Loire Valley and the Sologne region in July was the Martin-Pouret Vinegar Factory and shop in Orleans.
I met one of the two owners, David Matheron, at the offices of the factory. He and his business partner bought Martin-Pouret in 2019, from the last generation of the family-owned business that was started in 1797. He and his partner both worked for many years for other large corporations but wanted to create their own business by buying an existing, established company rather than starting from scratch. The former owner, who was in his mid-60s, wanted to retire and none of his children had the desire to take over the company. David explained to me that it was still a virtually small business, but it had enough prestige to give it an extra boost and expand it without losing its brand identity. He also told me the history of the vinegar industry in Orleans and the surrounding area. Orleans was the main gateway for the Loire winemakers to ship and transport their wines to other parts of France. Since vinegar is a by-product of wine, it was a natural happenstance that Orleans became the largest and most significant city to produce it. At the tipping point, Orleans had over 400 vinegar companies but by the late 20th century they all but disappeared to a handful, thus including Martin-Pouret, one of the last survivors.
David walked me through the old factory, where the main production is now, although they will be moving to a larger, more up to date, newly built facility in the next few years. He took me through each process, first showing me the oak barrels that hold and age the vinegar, an almost identical process to wine. Next was the storage process in these huge vats, then the assembly line where the vinegar is bottled, then adhering the labels to the full bottles, and finally packing them into boxes for shipping.
Once we were done with the factory visit, David was kind enough to take me to their retail shop a few minutes away from the factory by car. The store is located in the center of the city on rue Jeanne d’Arc, a wide avenue decorated with lovely, vertical flower beds that leads to the Orleans cathedral. The well curated and designed shop showcases the products including a long list of vinegar types and flavors, mustards, cornichons, jellies and jams, and oils. David and his partner updated the packaging and labeling, creating an appealing color palette, along with humorous illustrations. David said another thing they added was new products to enhance and compliment the vinegar and mustard, which included the jams and jellies and the cornichons and dared to even add balsamic vinegar, imported from Italy, rather than made in the factory.
In the back of the shop, there are three taps which dispense three different types of mustard and David donned an apron, and personally pumped mustard into a handsome, white ceramic pot, put a lid on it, and handed it to me to take home. There’s a refrigerated case that contains daily, freshly made lunch meals that include an appetizer, main course, and dessert, cleverly packaged in glass Mason jars. Another offering at the shop is a cooking class, taught by a well-known, local chef, using ingredients from the items sold in the store.
Another fun activity the store offers is vinegar and mustard tastings, and David was kind enough to do a mini-crash course to introduce me to the various vinegars. Much like wine tasting, each vinegar had its own distinct flavor and aftertaste, and the top-of-the-line vinegar was aged for seven years and packaged in a perfume-like, shaped bottle. The mustards were also fun to sample and by the end of the tasting, my nose and sinuses were clearer than they had been in years.
When we finished the vinegar and mustard tasting it was lunchtime and David and I had lunch together with dishes we selected from the prepared foods in the refrigerated case. The most divine dish was the dessert of strawberry and cranberry jelly panna cotta.
Just as I was leaving, David took a large shopping bag and stuffed it with all kinds of vinegars, mustards, and pickles, and it was so heavy, I could hardly carry it with my luggage on the train. I now have enough stock of vinegar to last me perhaps a few years.
Thanks so much David for such a fun and informative experience.
Checkout the enticing food recipes on their website. https://martin-pouret.com/blog/category/les-recettes.html
Orleans is only an hour train ride from Paris.
Martin-Pouret
