The Seigneurie de Peyrat is one of the Languedoc’s oldest and most respected vineyard châteaux. Dating back to Roman times, the château that exists now was constructed in the 17th century, long before the ‘wine rush’ of the 19th century that ushered in most of the region’s other chateaux.
In the seventeenth century, the Peyrat family who had their “summer house” in Montplaisir lived in the Connetable de Montmorency Hôtel in Pézenas, nowadays the home of Pézenas tourism office called Hôtel de Peyrat.
Around this time the estate was honoured to host 'The Sun King' Louis XIV and Cardinal Mazarin in 1660.
At the end of the 17th century, Montplaisir was sold to the Reboul family. From this moment, Montplaisir took the name of its former owners and became known as Peyrat.
The property changed hands a few more times until 1910, when Gustave Fayet acquired the property. In the 1980s, his grand grand son Luc Viennet and his wife Béatrice undertook the task of restructuring the vineyard. Since 2010, Cécile Viennet and her husband Miguel Espada, the fifth generation, are managing the estate and its 170 hectares of land.
If you wish to find out more about the history, please come for one of our tours.
Today, run by Cécile Espada, the estate welcomes visitors from all over the world.
The estate’s wine boutique plays host to regular tastings. And the courtyard in summer sees ‘Pique-nique Chic’ every afternoon.
Tours of the estate have proved very popular and they take in the château itself, its stunning 17th century chapel with fresco-walls, stately gardens, and of course the fascinating wine-making facilities. Cécile explains the process of wine-making in a simple, friendly way making the afternoon wine tasting almost irresistible.
Wine production is at the heart of what we do but we believe it's important for customers to experience the atmosphere and enjoy the wine in these surroundings. This is what our wine tastings and the 'pique-nique chic' are designed for, so you can see, live and experience for yourselves.
Read more about what the estate has to offer on our wine tourism page.
The estate has steadily built up a reputation as one of the finest wine-makers in Languedoc, with a wide range of delicious wines that are highly respected by wine experts. The vineyards cover 250 acres, and 13 different types of grape are grown here.
We strive to cultivate our vines, olives trees and vegetable garden in a simple and traditional way, paying respect to the land, animals and the Mediterranean climate.
To make an expressive wine, the grapes must have flavour and taste. All our work is focused on this. Thanks to our culture we have the satisfaction of harvesting healthy and balanced grapes, intrinsically capable of producing a wine of the best quality.
Thus chemical fertilisers are replaced by organic compost, which maintains a humus and micro-biological balance of the soil. Treatments are minimised, the natural soil nutrition strengthens the natural resistance of vines. This approach avoids the escalating chemical treatment processes which radically destroy parasites, but by imbalance it may cause the rise of other forms of parasites.
Adding to the charm, the wildlife at Peyrat surrounding the vines thrive, including partridges, rabbits, bees, grasshoppers, wild boar and deer.
