For several weeks each year Patricia and Walter Wells open their 18th-century Provençal  home for personalized cooking classes for a small number of participants eager to share in the food, wine, and culture of one of France’s most blessed regions. Students cook with herbs, salads and vegetables from the garden, grapes from the vineyard, and olives from the groves. They sip homemade aperitifs from the orchards, and prepare roast meat and poultry in the wood oven fired with vine clippings from the vineyard. The house wine is Clos Chanteduc, the fruity, fragrant red Côtes-du-Rhône from the property. The five-day English language program includes hands-on cooking sessions led by Patricia and Walter, as well as their guided visits to markets, vineyards, shops, and local restaurants.

Each day’s program offers something different: The menus prepared together and shared around the farmhouse table, the insider’s guide to the regional production of olives, oil, and cheese, and tastings from the rich selection of local wines, including the famed Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the heady and varied Vacqueyras and Gigondas, as well as the huge variety of top quality Côtes-du-Rhône. All instruction is in English. Recipes are geared to the home cook. Participants are supplied with aprons as well as detailed recipe booklets that are theirs to keep.

The class is limited to 12 participants. The week begins with dinner on Sunday night and ends after lunch on Friday. The fee is $5,000 and includes market visits, all tastings, and transportation for local visits. The fee does not include lodging. (Information on housing as well as the specific week's schedule will be sent when students enroll.)

The schedule will  include Sunday's welcome dinner; morning classes with lunch on four days with a midweek winery visit and tasting,  followed by lunch in a restaurant; and additional classes and dinner on two different evenings. The other two evenings will be free  for students to explore on their own or simply take a break.

A spouse or friend traveling with the student will be invited to the final lunch on Friday. He/she can also join the group for the winery visit and restaurant lunch afterwards, for the cost of the meal.

Following is a partial selection of activities from classes in previous years.

 

 

AT HOME WITH PATRICIA WELLS
COOKING IN PROVENCE

WELCOME TO CHANTEDUC

A SELECTION OF THE WEEK'S ACTIVITIES

SUNDAY WELCOME DINNER

Champagne Roses de Jeanne Les Ursules

100% Pinot Noir

Cheese-Stuffed Dates in Olive Oil and Fleur de Sel

Heirloom Tomato and Fresh Herb Soup from the Garden

Wood-Oven Roasted Marinated Local  Leg of Lamb

Aioli Piquant: Spicy Garlic Mayonnaise

Local “Delicatesse” Potatoes Roasted in Coarse Salt

Swiss Chard Leaf  Purée

Swiss Chard Rib Gratin

Tricolor Heirloom Tomato Platter with Fennel-Saffron Salt

Mixed Greens and Herbs from the Chanteduc Garden

Favorite French Cheeses: Saint Nicolas (Goat, Provence) ; Roves

Fermier (Goat, Provence); Picodon (Goat, Provence) Pélardon (Goat, Provence ; Roves au Thyme (Goat, Provence)

Homemade Sourdough Whole-Grain Bread

Homemade Date and Walnut Bread

Wine:

Cotes-du-Rhône Rouge Clos Chanteduc 2007

Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre

Importer: Eric Solomon

 

Fruits Baked with Honey and Beaumes de Venise

Lime and Honey Sorbet

Homemade Peach Leaf Wine

 

MONDAY

10 AM: MEET AT CHANTEDUC for Class and Lunch:

Topics: Knives; Kitchen Habits, Pot Sizes; Kitchen Organization and Design: Cutting Vegetables:  Sweating; Mis en Place; Salt

Chick Pea Dip with Sesame Oil and Fresh Cilantro

Soupe au Pistou: Provençal Vegetable Soup

With Light Basil Puree, Gruyère and Parmesan

Annie’s Provencal Almond Cookies

Fromage Blanc and Lavender Honey Sorbet

Prepare Fresh Lemon Verbena Sorbet for Tuesday lunch

Prepare Chanteduc Rainbow Olive Collection for Tuesday lunch

Wine:

Vinsobres Blanc Domaine Chaume-Arnaud 2008

50% Viognier, 50% Marsanne

Importer: Daniel Johnnes

 

TUESDAY

9 AM Meet in front of Post Office in Vaison for Market Tour

11:30 CLASS AND LUNCH AT CHANTEDUC:

Chanteduc Olives and Provencal Olives from the Vaison Market

White Fish Ceviche with Avocado, Spring Onions and Cherry Tomatoes

Cheese Selection Chez Josiane

Fresh Fruit from the Market

Fresh Lemon Verbena Sorbet

Wine:

Sablet Blanc Santa Duc La Fornas  2007

Viognier, Bourboulenc, Clairette, Grenache Blanc

Importer: Robert Kacher

WEDNESDAY

9:15  AM: DEPART CHANTEDUC IN CHAUFFEURED CARS

For Special Wine Tasting  with Dominique and Baptiste Grangeon

At Domaine de Cristia

in Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Lunch at Bistro du’O

Rue du Château, Haute Ville, 84110 Vaison-la-Romaine

THURSDAY

10 AM: CLASS AND LUNCH AT CHANTEDUC

Olive Oil Tasting

1. Huile d’Olive de La Valée des Baux de Provence (AOC  since 1999)

Moulin Jean Marie Cornillon,  Maussane les Alpilles

Five varieties of olives: Salonenque, Grossane, Béruguette, Picholine, Verdale; unfiltered, decanted, a favorite.  www.moulin-cornille.com
imported by Kermit Lynch

2. Castelas, Huile d’Olive de La Valée des Baux de Provence (AOC  since 1999) Jean Benoit and Catherine Hugues ; Four varieties of olives, Salonenque,  Grossane, Béruguette, Verdale; lightly filtered. www.castelas.com. Won best olive oil in the world, Fancy Food Show NYC 2007 and 2008. Very high tech.  Available at most Williams Sonoma, Whole Foods

3. Chanteduc Oil: Le Moulin du Comtat Caromb, Virgin Olive Oil, A blend of  green verdale, green aglandau, ripe tanche olives. Pressed in traditional manner. Unfiltered. Caromb (outside Carpentras)  Sous L’Eglise, 04 90 62 42 05. Open Tuesday am only.  www.moulinducomtat.free.fr

LUNCH :

AOC Mussels with Tomato Sauce

Ricotta Terrine with Fresh Tomato Sauce

Mixed Sauteed Peppers

Olive Tasting

Tossed Greens from the Garden

Chocolate, Fig, and Raisin Bites

Individual Chocolate Custards with Piment d’Espelette

FRIDAY

10 AM Final class and lunch

Topics: Pastry Making; Rare-Roasted Beef

Chanteduc Black Olive Tapenade

Rare-Roasted Beef Strips

with Rosemary, Mint and Tarragon and Basil Oil

“BLT” Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Salad

Green Beans with Basil

Potato Salad with Spring Onions, Capers, and Mint

Ham and Cheese Bread

Fig Tart with Homemade Fig Jam

Sheep’s Milk Yogurt and Honey Sorbet

WINE:

Cotes-du-Rhône Rouge Clos Chanteduc 2006

Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre

Importer: Eric Solomon