The origins of the famous duck date back to the reign of Philip IV of Spain, in 1650. Spanish emigrants arrived on the Vendée coast.

They captured a great many wild ducks in the marshlands and domesticated them. The inhabitants of these marshlands, known as "maraîchins", have continued to breed this duck, today, well known as the Challandais duck.

It is bred along the marshlands stretching some 20 miles along the Atlantic coast and about 10 miles inland in the northern part of the Vendée region.

This region is perfectly suited to duck breeding, thanks to its climate, its marshy soil and the water from the canals running from the Loire River and the Lac de Grand Lieu.

For almost sixty years La Tour d’Argent has bought its precious ducks exclusively from the Burgaud family in Challans.