Fontenille News
Dear All,
With the season coming to an end and many Maisons set to close in a few days' time, we are thrilled to present the latest edition of Fontenille News. What a season it has been!
You have worked tirelessly to make our hotels unique places to stay and to offer our guests ever more exceptional experiences: a big THANK YOU.
This newsletter is an opportunity to highlight the events that marked the summer at Fontenille Collection, as well as some figures (including records!) and news about the Collection.
With the entire team at Head Office we would like to express our sincere gratitude for this wonderful season. Thanks to your dedication, you have once again demonstrated that the Fontenille Collection is unlike any other.
Looking forward to seeing you!
Frédéric & Guillaume
Linda,
240
619 78%
FONTENILLE COLLECTION
OCCUPANCY RATE AT THE END OF AUGUST 2025 (+5 POINTS VS. 2024)
440K
INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS IN MID-SEPTEMBER (+20K VS. MARS)
THE NUMBER OF PUBLICATIONS IN THE FRENCH AND INTERNATIONAL PRESS FROM JANUARY TO SEPTEMBER 2025
150K€
EXPORT REVENUE FOR VIN DE FONTENILLE (+10% VS. PREVIOUS YEAR)
EMPLOYEES AT PEAK SEASON
The summer recap
Once again this year, a variety of events and experiences took place throughout the summer.
At Pieve Aldina, Chef Niccolò and his team hosted Pizza & Ice Cream Evenings, during which they demonstrated their pizzamaking skills to customers, from preparing the dough to cooking it in a wood-fired oven. Homemade ice cream made with fresh fruit was served for dessert.
In Lauris, the Vin de Fontenille estate team's traditional 'Apéros Lavoir' events have been transformed into 'Entre Ciel & Vignes' evenings. Two such evenings took place in a guinguette atmosphere on 24 July and 19 August. These events, which took place around the winery and in the vineyards included DJ sets, food trucks, and tastings of Fontenille wines for nearly 300 people. On 11 and 25 September, two 'Dîner des vendanges' evenings were held on the terrace of La Cuisine d'Amélie, offering a menu inspired by the vineyards and seasonal produce, including smoked red mullet and candied eggplant.
A sparkling experience was also offered in partnership with Veuve Clicquot in Lauris and Menorca: 'l’Art du Pique-Nique', which could be enjoyed amid the beautiful surroundings of the Domaine de Fontenille, surrounded by fields of aromatic plants, or along the cliffs of Torre Vella.
In Santa Ponsa, the renowned parrillada has been revamped to offer convivial barbecue evenings featuring shared starters and Menorcan beef ribs cooked on the grill: a real success.
Throughout the summer, La Bastide du Mourre reopened its Table d'hôtes, welcoming guests every evening and offering a menu based on locally sourced ingredients.
Meanwhile, Natasha Andrews led a yoga session in the garden facing the ocean every Tuesday morning at Les Hautes Mers.
In Primard, Indian summer has slowly settled in, with a change in the floral ceilings at the Maison sur l'Eure and the Martin bistro. To mark the start of autumn, the sheep have been given their annual shearing. Finally, raclette evenings have resumed around the fireplace at the Table d'hôtes.
Les Bassans
Highlights from our first season
Since opening its doors on June 16, Les Bassans has been a resounding success!
During this first season, occupancy rates reached 95%, reflecting the enthusiasm surrounding this new destination.
Two press trips were organized: one for the French press from 18 to 20 June, and one for the international press from 23 to 26 June. The feedback has been unanimously positive, and the hotel has received extensive coverage in magazines, which has greatly helped to promote it.
“Rouzic Island, located just opposite our position, is home to the largest colony of Fous de Bassan (Northern gannets) in Europe. This impressive seabird is an excellent diver. It is renowned for its beauty, boasting immaculate white plumage, a long yellow neck and head, black wing edges, a grey beak and bright blue eyes. Like this new Maison Bretonne from the Collection, it is majestic — I literally fell in love with it.
Like my team of seasonal workers, the Fous de Bassan will soon leave their island to migrate to other lands. Their mission is accomplished: they have given birth during these summer months.
Throughout this season, with my DREAM TEAM, we have also, thanks to the strength of the collective that has never left us for a single moment, fulfilled our Mission and shaped our Vision:
To anchor this sublime place in the tourist landscape and make it an unmissable destination in Perros-Guirec, in the Côtes d'Armor, in Brittany, and within Fontenille Collection.
We have kept the promises we made to our guests:
- A smile
- Discretion
- Elegance
- Generosity
- Professional expertise
- The Fontenille experience
- Emotion
- Kindness
- Life
Memory is amazing. It erases the postrenovation adventures, with things still to be adjusted and organised while our clients are already living in the house, with constant dust settling and water leaks occurring in the middle of August, leaving only the sparkling seaside setting that we have continued to cherish and admire since 16 June 2025. Some memories are fading, but the magnificent impression of this first season will remain. This incredible teamwork brought us all together, from the Paris Head Office to Les Bassans in Perros-Guirec.
The Fous de Bassan will return to Rouzic Island next spring, and with them, Les Bassans will open its doors once again.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone, especially to my DREAM TEAM version 1, for their invaluable support during this inaugural season. »
Corinne Renouardière Director, Les Bassans
25 Rooms , all facing the sea, offering breathtaking views of the Sept Îles archipelago.
1 Restaurant showcasing the richness of Breton terroir through a vibrant, everevolving menu inspired by the rhythm of the tides — in a unique and intimate setting.
1 Spa, an invitation to let go and reconnect, featuring Alaena treatments designed for your well-being.
IN THE PRESS!
Lien vers l article
New websites
Launched since October 15, 2025
The launch of the new Fontenille Collection websites marks a key milestone in both the modernization of our digital ecosystem and our broader digital acceleration strategy, aimed at amplifying our primary direct booking channel and attracting new guests.
Each Maison now has its own dedicated website — 13 in total — all seamlessly interconnected through an efficient network of subdomains (e.g. lesbordsdemer. fontenille-collection.com). This evolution strengthens each hotel’s organic search visibility, enhances navigation speed, and simplifies performance monitoring.
The completely redesigned and contentenriched Collection website now serves as the central showcase of the Fontenille Collection universe. For the first time, it presents in detail all our Maisons, our philosophy, and our values, highlighting our positioning as an experiential hospitality brand. Thanks to multiple synergies between the sites, every hotel is now interconnected: from any website, visitors can easily access the “Our Hotels” page and explore the entire Collection.
This website redesign project is built on a new WordPress + Elementor back office — more intuitive, secure, and efficient — providing the marketing teams with greater autonomy and day-to-day performance. The global revamp has also modernized the hotels’ digital graphic guidelines, optimized all images and SEO structures, and unified the user experience with a shared mobilefirst UX approach across all our Maisons.
A large-scale project serving visibility, performance, and customer experience — continuing the momentum initiated by the switch to our new booking engine (Namastay, live since January).
Wishing all teams an excellent discovery! Congratulations and thank you to my team and to our partners for bringing this project to life in less than a year.
Albane Alexandre Marketing & Digital Director
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) : all the techniques aimed at improving a website’s ranking and visibility in the organic results of search engines.
UX (User Experience) : all the elements designed to provide the user with a pleasant, smooth, and satisfying experience when using a product or service.
Société à Mission
As announced in our previous newsletter, the first audit was conducted by Aupéam, the independent third-party organization responsible for assessing the quality of Fontenille Collection as a Société à Mission.
This took place on 17 April at 70 Hectares… & l'Océan and Les Hortensias du Lac, followed by interviews with employees, management and the Comité de Mission’s members.
We are delighted to announce that we have received a favorable opinion following this audit!
The next audit will take place in 2027.
In July, we published our first Rapport de Mission, which we are very proud of!
It is an opportunity to review the actions already implemented by Fontenille Collection, as well as those planned to meet the objectives that we consider crucial to our success as a Société à Mission. These objectives are based on our four pillars:
- Creating living spaces for the well-being of our customers
- Supporting our employees in achieving their full potential
- Improving our environmental footprint
- Enhancing our local impact and all our purchases
View it online now by clicking HERE
As stakeholders in the Société à Mission, we encourage you to share your ideas and contribute to this corporate project.
« We are very proud to present Fontenille Collections' very first Rapport de Mission.
It marks a key milestone in our collective commitment to a more responsible and sustainable hotel industry.
This report provides an overview of the many actions already undertaken by the group and its teams, reflecting our daily commitment. It also outlines our mediumterm ambition: to continue to move forward with high standards, consistency, and determination, working together to build a future that is more respectful of our environment and our values.»
Frédéric Mille President of the Comité de Mission
Newcomers in the Fontenille Family
Mallaury Chaudet joined the Collection on May 12 as Revenue Manager. Based at our headquarters in Paris, she supports our hotels in revenue management, performance monitoring, and achieving financial objectives. With her extensive experience in the hotel industry, Mallaury will play a key role in optimizing revenue and growing our Collection.
After an initial internship at the Collection's headquarters, Théo Falcone rejoined the marketing team on September 8, this time as Social Media & Content Project Manager. With several years of marketing experience gained alongside his studies, Théo will act as the link between the hotels and our customers. He will actively contribute to raising the profile of our establishments while ensuring the consistency of the Collection's image.
Rebecca Alimi joined the team on September 29 as Sales Manager for Domaine de Primard. With her solid background in events and customer relations, she will be responsible for developing the estate's sales strategy, strengthening customer relations, and contributing to its reputation.
Louis-Kentaro Danjou joined us on October 1st as Investment Manager. With his experience in investment and private equity, he will contribute to the strategic development of the collection, as well as the structuring and management of financing.
Wine moments
This year, the grape harvest had a very special flavour for Vins de Fontenille Between the early picking in our Luberon vineyards and the very first harvest on our land in Menorca, 2025 marks an important milestone in our winemaking history.
HARVEST IN THE HEART OF THE LUBERON
Entirely done by hand for our reds and prestige cuvées (Cuvée Alphonse and Primard), the goal is to offer high-quality wines that best express our expertise and terroirs. Despite a scorching summer, the harvest looks promising. It began on 21 August, ten days earlier than in 2024, and required heightened vigilance following heavy spring rains. The grapes are then handled by gravity, to preserve all their finesse before maceration and pressing. Each grape variety is fermented separately to best express its character, before the final blend.
THE ART OF BLENDING
Twice a year, the VDF teams join Frédéric Biousse for the key blending moment. From dozens of samples, all our cuvées are born:
In December , the blending of whites and rosés (Fontenille, Impatients, Amélie, Antoinette) — nearly 170,000 litres — destined to be bottled as early as January.
In May, it’s the turn of the exceptional cuvées (Alphonse, Primard), aged in barrels and patiently kept for more than a year before being shared.
A PROMISING WINE VINTAGE
With 40 hectares of vineyards and an average production of 190,000 litres per year (around 240,000 bottles , of which 50% rosé, 30% white and 20% red), Fontenille continues to stand out. Despite a cautious French market, our wines are enjoying growing success abroad, confirming recognition of our know-how.
MENORCA: A HISTORIC FIRST HARVEST
The year 2025 will be remembered as the first harvest on our Menorcan land. Launched on 14 August with the picking of the white malvasia grape variety, this inaugural step revealed the richness and diversity of Menorca’s island terroirs.
The harvest took place over more than four weeks, as ripeness varied greatly between the different varieties. This first cuvée marks the beginning of a great adventure: the first Menorcan wines should be available from March 2026
Behind every bunch picked, every blend and every bottle, it is everyone’s commitment and work that carry Vins de Fontenille. Thank you to each and every one of you for your contribution to this collective success!
A gourmet autumn in the kitchen
Recipe Book by Chef Dimas Roldan, Torre Vella, Menorca
HISTORY
In Menorca, when summer begins to fade and the countryside smells of fig trees and warm earth, the kitchen is filled with simplicity and memories. Oliaigua reflects that life: a humble soup made with whatever the garden provides, bread from the day before, and always, always, a piece of fruit on the side.
Farmers used to eat it when they returned from the fields, for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Light, nutritious, and fresh, it's one of those dishes that tells a story of simplicity and respect for the ingredients.
PREPARATION
In a clay pot with olive oil, sauté the onion and garlic until they become sweet and transparent.
Add the sliced peppers and sauté until they release their aroma.
Add the grated or chopped tomatoes and simmer over low heat until the mixture is thick and fragrant.
Cover with hot water, add the bay leaf, and simmer gently for about 10 minutes. Season with salt.
Place the dry bread in deep bowls and pour the freshly made broth over it. Let it sit for a moment so that the bread absorbs the flavor.
Oliaigua never comes alone: it is always accompanied by an open fig, a slice of melon, or a bunch of grapes.
1 LARGE ONION
2 CLOVES OF GARLIC
1 GREEN PEPPER
1 RED PEPPER (IF IN SEASON)
4 RIPE TOMATOES
1 BAY LEAF
EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
THIN SLICES OF BREAD FROM THE DAY BEFORE SALT WATER
FIGS, MELON, OR GRAPES
by Chef Dimas Roldán
Holiday season
Discover the First Edition of the Fontenille Collection Yule Log
A signature creation inaugurating Fontenille Collection’s festive season in the most indulgent way.
Presented in an elegant box bearing the Fontenille hallmark, this first Yule log pays tribute to nature’s textures and the timeless art of celebration.
Its refined silhouette , adorned with delicate chocolate leaves reminiscent of a winter garden, captures the essence of Fontenille’s poetic landscapes.
Beneath its velvet finish, shaded in gold and deep cocoa, unfolds a symphony of sensations: the silky richness of dark chocolate cream, the lightness of Tonka bean mousse, and the crunch of almond–milk chocolate biscuit
An elegant and poetic creation, at once delicate and full of character, crafted by Chef Philippe Moreno (Les Hortensias du Lac) and Pastry Chef Gabriella Jannini (Les Bords de Mer).
Available to order from our houses open for the festive season: Domaine de Primard – Domaine de Fontenille
– Les Hortensias du Lac – Les Bords de Mer –Les Hautes Mers.
PRACTICAL DETAILS
Available 19–31 December – pre-order 48h in advance
Order via email or WhatsApp
Click & Collect on site (pre-payment recommended)
Yule log for 6 — price to be announced shortly
Exclusive employee offer: -20% to elevate your festive table.
The Fontenille boutique
FONTENILLE WEAR
Following the launch of our personalized Fontenille Collection accessories, discover Fontenille Wear, our capsule of everyday wearable souvenirs, designed as a natural extension of our Maisons.
The T-shirts and caps from the Fontenille Wear collection pay tribute to our locations. They create a sunny wardrobe, perfect to wear both while traveling and at home.
FONTENILLE HOME
Since this summer, Fontenille Collection has unveiled its exclusive olfactory signature with two products available in our Maisons and online: the interior fragrance and reed diffuser.
For the holiday season, we are introducing our new product: The Candle – Cedar Vetiver, designed as an extension of our Maisons. A perfect gift to give—or to treat yourself to—the scent of vacation all year round!
The Collection is available in all Fontenille Collection Maisons and online: www.boutique-fontenille.com
GREEN OLIVE OIL
A new creation from the Fontenille fine grocery. Discover this fruity and intense green olive oil, perfect for enhancing the freshness of your dishes.
Originating from the slopes of the Luberon in Mérindol, just 5 km from the Domaine, this premium green olive oil combines vegetal freshness with intensity. The olives are harvested early and pressed within hours to preserve their notes of freshly cut grass and artichoke, along with a beautiful peppery finish.
Available at: www.boutique-fontenille.com
Fontenille Family Benefits
Fontenille Committee
At Fontenille, your well-being is our priority. It is with this commitment in mind that the Fontenille Committee was created, with the goal of fostering cohesion and supporting your personal balance.
Composed of dedicated members from all our regions – Bixente Dubois, Ophélie Ruans, Sacha Cart, Richard Philaire, Jeanne Fleury, Paula Visciano, Sandra Laville, and Elisa Grépin – the Committee organizes concrete initiatives throughout the year to enrich your daily life.
Some of you have already enjoyed moments of relaxation through yoga, Zumba, Pilates, or sophrology sessions.
Beyond these well-being activities, a variety of benefits are offered to you throughout the year:
STAYS AT THE FONTENILLE HOUSES
20% off overnight stays at all Fontenille Houses
Special offers: "Staff, Friends & Family"
MOBILITY WITH EUROPCAR
Enjoy 15-30% off car rentals through the Europcar platform
Visit the website, select "I have a negotiated rate", and enter your hotel code (available from your General Manager or Administrative Assistant).
PRIVATE SALE
FONTENILLE WINES
40% off the entire Fontenille wine range (orders in cases of 6 bottles).
FONTENILLE GOURMET STORE
20% off all products in our gourmet store.
FONTENILLE BOUTIQUE
30% off our selection of accessories and home fragrances.
Feel free to contact your Administrative Assistant or Human Resources team, who can guide you toward many advantageous offers and opportunities.
The Fontenille Collection is growing!
We are pleased to share some advance information with you about our upcoming projects, in complete confidence.
LAURIS
Four new rooms have been created and opened for the 2025 season.
MEURSAULT
36 rooms
The hotel will close at the end of November to allow for the château's complete renovation, as well as the creation of new rooms in the annexes. The spa will also be redesigned.
A clearance sale is planned for 25–28 November.
AIX-EN-PROVENCE
40 rooms
Construction has begun in the city centre of Aix-en-Provence, where our first contract management hotel is set to open in 2027.
TARGETING 2027–2028
CHAMONIX
48 rooms
Fontenille's first mountain location!
A clearance sale took place at the hotel in September. The Architecture & Works team is continuing to work on this project, which involves creating plans, conducting structural studies and producing mood boards.
FIESOLE
38 rooms
This project is located in a former convent in the hills above Florence, only 1 hour 30 minutes from Pieve Aldina.
Do you have an idea, a colleague or a success story you'd like to highlight?
Write to us: e.martins@fontenillecollection.com