At Sanatio Naturalis we place the greatest importance on the origins of our product. We work directly with the local farmers and artisan distillers, carefully ensuring that our customers only enjoy the very finest essential oils. This, we believe is the secret of our success.

“Un rêve, une ambition: faire de la qualité!”(A dream, an ambition: making quality!) – Véro, Lavender Farmer & Distiller.

The fundamental secret is simply that it comes from Haute Provence. It’s that unique blend of the climate, the altitude, the sun, the soil, the humidity. Essential Oils, just like Wines are about terroirs (Provence, altitude), wine yard (true population vs clones), harvesting (green or dried) and distillation methods (old alembics or ‘caisson’)… These cannot be emulated growing lavender anywhere else in the world. Then, of course it is the careful timing of our harvesting and the rigorous sorting of the blooms that ensures you only get flowers at their optimum moment of chemistry.

The plants are cared for in a very unique way. The fastest way to propagate lavender is through cuttings, a standard practice which produces clone plants. However, every one of our farm’s plants has been grown from seed, allowing the plant time to achieve its own integrity and personality. Traditionally when you look at lavender fields the colour will be that gorgeous rich uniform purple because every plant is identical. Each propagated cutting is a clone of its parent. But by sowing from seeds you create an utterly ethereal magic.

Standing in the field you can see lavenders of every different hue. Some grow to be lighter, others darker, their beauty enhanced by the fact that each seed is genetically different from another. Herein lies the source of our lavender oils quality. We are one of the last producers to farm this way, a fact about which we are understandably very proud.

Dancing amongst all these colours are so many insects! Butterflies, bees, you name it, it is feasting on the nectar and joyfully carrying pollen from plant to plant. The presence of an apiary on our operations prohibiting the use of any kind of pesticide. The soil is nourished using organic fertilizer, and weeds… They just have to be pulled out, because there is a zero tolerance for any chemicals that do not naturally occur on the farm.

Specifically: AOP (appellation d’origine protégée - protected designation of origin). It is a European standard of quality.

Samples are taken from our farm every year of the new batches to conduct physical, chemical and olfactory tests. These are performed by an independent laboratory designated and approved by the Ministry of Agriculture. Each is sampled and examined under anonymity to exclude the possibility of bias...

Of paramount importance are geographical location, the altitude, the soil and climate. These are referred to as « terroir ». Only producers of four French geographic areas (Drôme, Vaucluse, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Hautes-Alpes), whose crops are grown at altitudes of more than 800 metres may ask for their production of essential oil to be considered for Haute-Provence lavender AOP selection.