Stone fruit in the spotlight!
03 July 2025
At the height of the stone fruit season, Lagache is honouring one of its partner producers of peaches, nectarines and apricots, marketed under the K-Talent du fruit brand.
Based in the Pyrénées-Orientales, this producer has been growing stone fruit for four generations. The story begins with the great-grandmother, a nurserywoman, and continues with the following generations, who became arboriculturists.
The know-how has been handed down from generation to generation, while remaining resolutely focused on new trends, in terms of varieties, environmental responsibility and distribution organisation; the company is now also a shipper.
Quality first and foremost
At this producer, one golden rule guides every stage: quality.
✔️ Variety selection: from May to September, nurserymen and growers meet every week. The nurserymen present the new varieties, while the growers select them by cross-referencing various criteria: taste, harvesting period, suitable terroir, etc. This meticulous process is at the heart of their success, and relies on great expertise and a keen sense of anticipation. After all, it only takes 10 days for the fruit to set! To cover the whole stone fruit season, they have to grow between 20 and 30 varieties of white peaches, and the same goes for yellow peaches, white and yellow nectarines and apricots…
✔️ The winter fruiting period: pruning, fertilisation, irrigation, thinning, etc. Each step is crucial to guaranteeing the quality and size of the fruit. The aim is to optimise light and give space to the best fruit, which will have an impact on taste and size. At the same time, water management, the choice of fertilisers and the use of increasingly low-pollution equipment are essential for responsible, high-quality production.
✔️ The harvest!
Catalan du Fruit and Lagache met by chance two years ago. “Xavier came to visit us and we hit it off. He knows his business. We launched our first trays. The following year, the partnership really took off. Lagache is my exclusive distributor at the Lille wholesale market.
