“I have always had a gift with my nose. When I was little, I dreamed of working in the perfumery. I was born in Grenoble, and I spent my childhood between the Vercors and the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. We had an old farm that my parents, a little bohemian, had renovated. There were chickens, cats, dogs, a Jeep, a vegetable patch. At home, we ate simple things, soups, salads.
“My husband wanted to set up his box. I wanted to work in cosmetics. My parents made wine. “
With my grandparents, near Gap, where they lived, and in Leucate, where we often went on vacation, my grandfather took me to the hills, taught me to recognize thyme, the immortal of the dunes, we harvested blackberries and rose hips, we caught fish, we ate picking. I loved it. My father, who founded Go Sport, sold the company in 1990 and my parents decided to change their life: they moved to Bordeaux and went from mass distribution to viticulture. They bought the estate of Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte and settled there.
During this time, I was studying in a business school and my first internships in the world of beauty, fragrances and cosmetics, Cacharel, L’Oréal… I met Bertrand, my future husband and partner, in preparation in Paris, and we started to imagine our future. He wanted to set up his box. I wanted to work in cosmetics. My parents made wine.
A spark
One day in October 1993, we gave a group of researchers a tour of the estate, including Professor Joseph Vercauteren, who specializes in pharmacognosy, or the chemistry of natural substances. He tells us that what we are going to throw away after the harvest, this bucket full of marc and grape must, is full of the most powerful antioxidants there is.
It is the spark that triggers our adventure. We think with him about the techniques of extraction and stabilization of polyphenols, we do market studies and trials of creams made from grape seed, we are taken for crazy but, a year later, we file the statutes. by Caudalie. Since then, we have lived in Hong Kong and New York and today we have 900 employees and 70 references …
The cook in our home is more like Bertrand. He has the culinary fiber through his father and loves to make classic and convivial recipes – blanquette, pot-au-feu, couscous or waterzoï, a sort of Belgian chicken in a pot that is also prepared with fish. As for me, I prepare simple and healthy things on weekdays, soups, salads, seeds, grilled vegetables.
A few years ago, I had the whole family against me, but today my children are cooking healthy, and Bertrand fell in love with quinoa pancakes. On Mondays, we usually eat red rice and grilled chicken, and dhal is on the Tuesday menu. It’s a simple and delicious dish that I have been making for a long time. I add seasonal vegetables, spinach or tomatoes, and lots of spices. It is a fragrant, tasty and nourishing dish, which satisfies all the eaters around me. “