Apt-Aromatiques was founded in late 1998.

The office, laboratory, and warehouse are located at F-84940 St. Saturnin les Apt, Hameau les Redons.(hameau=hamlet)

The lavender fields are located in the vicinity of the hamlet, and lie approximately 10 km (6 miles) away in the direction of Sault at an altitude of 1,000 m (3,000 ft.) in the region known as the Plateau de Vaucluse.

Apt-Aromatiques specializes in :

Gudrun Tessier and Francis Redon are business partners in the company. Gudrun has a long work history in selling and exporting essential oils. Francis has an engineering degree in agroalimentation. He is also a grower of traditional lavender and specializes in the "Population" species. He has a ten-year working experience in research and development of lavender cultivation and products for professional associations (in particular, CRIEPPAM). Moreover, he is a technical consultant to private enterprises and associations and he shows them how to equip their distillation.

The company maintains a close relationship with local growers offering the best qualities and a wide range of products. Apt-Aromatiques often works on a contract basis with the local growers to guarantee consistent quality of products. All harvest selections (lots) are sorted on analytical criterias. They are chosen according to their olfactory standards.

In April 1999 Apt-Aromatiques received an Organic (bio) certificate. This allows the company to market essential oils and hydrolates under the organic label, named "Bio Label Qualité-France".

In addition to the French products Apt-Aromatiques also offers conventional and organic (bio) oils from Madagascar and Marocco.

The company works in close cooperation with a local distillery, which distills roots and seeds among other products of high quality. A product list follows. This distillery cultivates its own crops of Roman Chamomile an Catnip.

Lavender & Lavandin

The Essential Oils:

Species

Lavandula Angustifolia is the Latin name for traditional lavender and clonal lavender. Traditional lavender is grown from seeds and is cultivated at an altitude of 1,000 m (3,000 ft). It is the highest quality product. Lavender AOC (Appelation origine controllé) is a traditional lavender. With the help of a sample and a laboratory analysis a commitee of in experts determine oil factors and other properties of all lavender harvest. Stringent quality criteria exist to determine the quality of the harvest. The best qualified samples get the label AOC.

Lavender Clonal is mostly identified and traded under the species name of Maillette. This type of lavender is planted from cuttings. It can be cultivated in low altitudes. The color of the traditional lavender can range from white to a deep blue. However, clonal lavender has homogenic blue flowers.

Lavender Oil Organic : The organic essential oils are obtained from Lavender traditional and Lavender clonal as a result of Organic Farming.

Lavender Oil 38/40, 40/42 and Lavender Oil 48/50, 50/52 : Natural lavender oils aremarketed under the above names. The indicated percentages show the ester content. Thecustomers are using low or high ESTER contents.

Lavender Hybrida is the Latin name for all Lavandin species. It is a hybrid of wild growing lavender (Lavandula Angustifolia) and Spike lavender (Lavandula Latifolia).

Currently Lavandin Grosso is the most popular and highest yield species.

Lavandin Abrialis is one of the oldest cultivated variety.

Lavandin Super is the most similar in its properties and flavour to lavender.

Sumian is rarely grown nowadays and it is similar to the Abrialis species.

Lavandin Organic : all varieties are locally grown.

Harvesting and Distillation

Lavender harvests takes place in July and August. The plants are machine-cut when the flowers are at their peak bloom. The distillery process is based on water steam. Technics in distilling constantly change and are developed. Nowadays, distilleries dry and cut plants of lavender and extract the oils with the use of traditional equipments or container-system. Other methods, often used with lavandin, include cutting the plants, loading the crop directly without any drying onto mobile containers, and transporting the load to the distilleries, where the containers are hooked up to a steam source. The distilling process occurs in the containers. There is a multitude of private and cooperative distilleries which process other French products such as chamomile roman, clary sage, cypress, hyssop, peppermint, rosemary, sage officinalis, tarragon, thyme, etc.

Lavender Oil is used in the production of fragrances, perfumes, cosmetic products and flavours, medicine, in other health care products and in aromatherapy.

Lavandin Oil is used for fragrances, detergents and soap-industries.

Essential Oils of France

Organic Essential Oils Certification Qualité, France SA

Our Partner Distillery

Essential Oils / Product List

Contact us

Our Location

Saint Saturnin-les-Apt is located 50 km East of Avignon. Exit the the motorway at Avignon Sud and follow the direction labeled Apt, RN 100. Upon entereing Apt head North towards Saint Saturnin les Apt (8 km). Upon exiting the village take the departmental road labeled D2 heading towards Gordes. @.5 km later turn right heading towards les Redons. Apt- Aromatiques is located in the middle of the hamlet of les Redons.