Andrieu Chocolatier - L'Atelier Du Chocolat Bayonne
This is a must visit. I felt a real kindred spiritual connection with this chocolate company. Their chocolates, flavor profile and goal of using Fair Trade, Equitable Trade and organic chocolate reminded me a lot of Santa Barbara Chocolate Company.
If you visit their Bayonne location just North of Biarritz you can see their chocolate museum and their actual chocolate production. For convenience walking sake however (not far from the SAS Radisson) they have a cute little outlet in the Biarritz city center worth visiting.
Andrieu Chocolatier uses a few different types of chocolate couverture in production, but their preference is Max Havelaar. The nice thing is Havelaar has several chocolates available all with a focus of being Fair Trade and or organic. The truffles and bouchees (large sized chocolates) had a true flavor without any off notes or artificial taste. The raspberry bouchee was very good with a deep rich dark chocolate blanaced perfectly with a fresh raspberry ganache. It tasted like it was made with raspberries that were picked from the bush that morning. These chocolates are great.