Domaine des Terres Rouges
Domaine des Terres Rouges is a French maker of flavored mustards, horseradish and vinegars. Born in the Corrèze in 1995 and now based in Mietesheim, in northern Alsace, it grinds whole mustard seeds on stone mills and flavors them with everything from Cognac and Riesling to truffle, fig and black garlic. Since 2015 it has been part of Maison Alélor, an Alsatian condiment house that dates from 1873.
The house
The brand was created in 1995 by the Distillerie des Terres Rouges, a subsidiary of the Pagès-Vedrenne-Salers group in Turenne, in the Corrèze. The distillery's idea was to flavor mustard with the liqueurs it already made, pastis, Cognac, absinthe, verbena from the Velay, and the name came from the red sandstone of Collonges-la-Rouge, the medieval village nearby, where the house opened a museum, shop and restaurant on 1 June 2011. Its emblem became a violet mustard, a nod to the favorite mustard of the fourteenth-century Pope Clement VI.
On 1 April 2015 the brand, its recipes and its equipment moved to Alsace, into the mill of Maison Alélor at Mietesheim, and Domaine des Terres Rouges became Alélor's fine-grocery label. Alélor's own story starts in 1873, when Jean Stumpf opened a mustard mill at Lingolsheim; the Stumpf family ran it for generations, registering the Alélor name, a contraction of Alsace and Lorraine, in 1939. In Mietesheim, meanwhile, the Urban and Mahler-Schnepp families had been growing horseradish since 1950 and founded Raifalsa in 1956 to prepare it. The Trautmann family bought both businesses between 2006 and 2009 and brought them together in Mietesheim under Alain Trautmann. In 2023, for its 150th anniversary, Alélor received the Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant label from the French state.
The method is what carries over from one era to the next: whole seeds crushed slowly between stones, aromas developed by distillation and decanting, and, in recent years, a growing share of recipes made without sulfites or additives from seeds grown by partner farmers in France. Its raspberry vinegar and walnut mustard won awards at the Épicures du Monde competition in 2016.
What they make
Clipperton carries a wide slice of the mustard range, plus the horseradish and the marine vinegar.
- Truffle Mustard – stone-milled seeds infused with truffle, no sulfites or additives.
- Old Style Mustard – the grainy classic of stone-milled whole seeds.
- Riesling Mustard – mild and floral, an Alsatian pairing.
- Fig Mustard – sweet and savory, for cheese and charcuterie.
- Sweet Horseradish – hand-peeled and grated root, ready to use.
The full Domaine des Terres Rouges collection also includes Dijon, Cognac, Crémant d'Alsace, beer, walnut, chestnut, porcini, Espelette pepper, wasabi, black garlic, wild garlic, basil, tarragon, verbena and grape must mustards, and the seaweed-steeped Marine Vinegar in two sizes.
Why Clipperton chose them
Clipperton is a family importer, and mustard is one of the things we most wanted to get right. We wanted more than Dijon: a maker with a real mill, real seeds and enough imagination to put Cognac or verbena in a jar without it being a gimmick. Domaine des Terres Rouges gave us that, and the story of a Corrèze distillery finding a home in a 150-year-old Alsatian mill is the kind of history we like to pass on. We buy from them directly. For the wider picture, read our Journal guide to French gourmet mustard.
