At Sea With Loch Duart
Here you see a member of Fine Yacht Provisions/Chez Laurent making a delivery to one of the ‘mega-yachts’ that cruise the Mediterranean in the summer.
We’re delighted to hear from Laurent Castel, the founder and owner of the company, that fresh, smoked and cured Loch Duart Salmon is a big hit with the mega-rich.
Laurent writes,
‘Hi Christina and Jenny
We thought you might like to see some of the products we make using your salmon. As well as preparing it for our clients fresh, we also home smoke it and home cure it as gravadlax.
Our main clients are villas along the French Riviera and mega yachts. In the summer we deliver your salmon all along the French coast and into Italy and Spain. It has also been sent to Croatia, Sardinia, Corsica, Greece, Ibiza, Palma and many other locations by the provisioning companies we work with.
During the winter many of our clients are in warmer climes so our orders from you will be smaller – nevertheless we are anticipating sending small shipments to the Caribbean and The Maldives and, of course, Christmas will be crazy.
Have a great day – thank you so much for all your assistance and, of course, for the great salmon.
Kate’
Laurent declined to name any of his famous clients, saying only that he regularly supplies well-known villa and yacht owners in the area. When pushed, he admitted that these included famous actors, politicians, worldwide known high net worth individuals and Middle Eastern and European royalty.
Mega yachts cost upwards of € 50 million second-hand and are chartered at rates which range up to € 2.6 million per week in summer. Next time you see pictures of the rich and famous playing in the sun of the French Riviera in your newspaper or magazine, chances are they are being served fish supplied by Laurent.
The yachts flee the Mediterranean ‘winter’ and head to the Caribbean, Asia and The Maldives for better weather. Even so, many of the yacht chefs continue to order from Fine Yacht Provisions/Chez Laurent worldwide shipping service.
It is comforting to know that, in the midst of all this hardship, there is solace to be found in Loch Duart salmon, prepared in many imaginative ways by Laurent and his team.