In the heart of Languedoc

A privileged location

Domaine de Soustres lies in the heart of the Languedoc region, between the Mediterranean Sea and the Haut-Languedoc mountain range. Located on the hill of Ensérune, between Béziers and Narbonne.

On this hill is the Oppidum d’Ensérune museum and its archaeological site, the remains of a major Gallo-Roman settlement in the southern Mediterranean occupied between the 6th century BC and the 1st century AD.

From the top of the hill, a magnificent view is offered over the Etang of Montady which was dried up in the ^13th century. Since then, on 400 hectares, it forms a circle at the center of which multiple channels leave forming “rays” similar to those of a sun.

At the foot of the hill, flows the Canal du Midi one of the oldest canals in Europe still in operation. In 1996, the Canal was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. It crosses the Malpas Tunnel, dug out of the rock in 1679 by Pierre-Paul Riquet.

Birthplace of wine in France

The site of Ensérune is considered by several historians as the cradle of wine in France.
From the ^6th century BC, this strategic position of a promontory and the proximity of the sea allowed the rise of the first city of Ensérune. It is here that the Etruscans, then the Greeks began the marketing of wine in Gaul. Archaeological excavations show that the vine was then cultivated on a large scale in the Biterrois 300 B.C.

From the Romans to Medieval Times

In 120 BC with the foundation of Narbonne, the city of Ensérune gradually disappeared. Some lands of the Narbonnaise are distributed to Roman veterans and the Domaine de Soustres becomes a large Roman villa. Its unique situation of promontory along the Domitian road will favor its successive transformations into a Visigoth hamlet, a monastery and then a seigniorial domain.

At the beginning of the ^XIIIth century, after the war of the Albigenses against the Cathars, the Domain depends on the Diocese of Narbonne. It is then named «Garsagas et Balmas».

Birth of Domaine de Soustres

During the 16th century, the estate of Soustres became property of the family of Portalon and will remain so until the 1970s.

A new era

Jean Mamert decided, with friends, to acquire the Domain.