The Terroirs · 02 · Ireland, Wexford
Bannow Bay
The conche of Ostra Regal
Bannow Bay is a conche in the south-east of Ireland: a bay enclosed by land, linked to the sea by a mouth about a hundred metres wide. It empties completely at low tide and fills completely at high tide, whatever the coefficient; its beds are left exposed twelve hours a day. This is where La Famille Boutrais refines its flagship, Ostra Regal, in the conche.
oysters — extensive farming
of growth in the conche
each oyster handled
out of the water, every tide
A giant claire, drawn by nature
The conche holds the fresh water of the streams and the nutrients it carries. Its bed keeps them until the next tide; sunlight and brackish water make plankton thrive. Here the oyster grows very fleshy.
Two tides a day leave the beds fully exposed: the oyster stays closed twelve hours out of twenty-four, which refines its taste and hardens its shell. Each one is handled more than sixty times, to restrain the growth of the shell and favour fattening.
What this terroir gives the oyster
A taste between sweet and salty, at the frontier of land and sea. Generous flesh, a robust, dark, teardrop-shaped shell.
The terroir at a glance
| Country | Ireland |
|---|---|
| County / town | Wexford |
| Type | Conche (land-locked tidal bay) |
| Extent of the bay | over 10,000 ha |
| Status | Special protection area for birds |
| Role in the house | Refining in the conche |
Raised here
Nautical chart
The chart
Watch the bay empty and fill with the tide, and the rivers pour their nutrients into it.
- Nutrients carried in by the rivers
- Open-sea water (rising tide)
- The house's oyster beds