Five generations of the Grallet-Dupic family have farmed mirabelle plums in Rozelieures, south of Nancy in Lorraine. They have been there since 1890. “Our children will be the sixth generation,” says Sabine Grallet-Dupic. “Maxime and Vincent are already working on the farm, and Victor is still a student, but plans to join his brothers once he has finished his studies.”
They have 30 hectares of orchards which produce upwards of three tonnes of fruit a year. “We harvest in August, and employ around 50 students to help. Normally, we are just 13 people, counting our employees. It takes three weeks to gather all the fruit in, and we sell around two-thirds of it as fresh fruit. The rest we distill here in our own distillery on the farm.”
Gathering the mirabelle plum harvestMaison de la Mirabelle
Around 80% of the world’s mirabelle production comes from Lorraine, where the soil and the climate are ideal. Mirabelles are yellow, small and sweet. They come in two varieties, the mirabelles of Nancy and the mirabelles of Metz, but both are delicious.
The family produces a range of eaux de vie and liqueurs as well as jams, dried mirabelles, whole mirabelles preserved in syrup, fruit juice, and syrup. Their mirabelle confectionery includes nougat, Babas de Stanislas, marzipan stuffed with mirabelles, caramels, mirabelle tea, and honey from the farm.
The mirabelle flowers are even used in the fabrication of scents and perfumes for men and women. Everything they sell is made on the farm, including the range of excellent craft whiskies and gin. They have a small number of pear trees, from which they make eau-de-vie de poire.
At their Maison de la Mirabelle, the family has set up a screening room where people can watch a son-et-lumière explaining the entire process. It is in English, German and French. People can also go for a walk in the orchards. “It is free and there is no need to reserve. We are always here during opening hours, so people can just come when they like. They can also do a tasting, and we run cocktail workshops too. The idea is to give people some ideas of the sorts of cocktails people can make with our products.”
There is also an online shop and products can be shipped all over France.
