"The young Eugène Laponche, having just arrived from Auvergne, settled in Draguignan in the Var. Having married the daughter of a beekeeper, he also became passionate about his father-in-law's profession. This is how He began beekeeping with around fifty modern hives (frame hives) in 1925. The Mediterranean climate helped his apiary prosper quickly.
  
His son François learned the trade during his holidays. After obtaining an agricultural technician's certificate, he in turn became a beekeeper in 1973 and took over the family business. The 1980s were marked by a craze for natural and regional products including honey. But also by the arrival of a parasite, the varoa, which destroys a large part of the French livestock. François Laponche refocuses the company on the production of honey and the sale of colonies, and he practices large-scale transhumance. With passion and courage, he continues his family's beautiful beekeeping tradition.
  
One of the more distant transhumances takes me to the Alpes de Haute Provence and Dauphiné, to have the bees from the Rucher de la Bouverie harvest this exquisite mountain honey, at an altitude of 1,500 meters. They gather there a multitude of alpine flowers, including for example dandelion and wild thyme.
  
A beautiful red color tending to brown and a harmonious, very balanced aroma."