rançois le Carrion, lord of Nizas, owned this chateau situated on the left bank of the river Peyne, and sold it in 1646 to the Fathers of the Oratory of the College of Pézenas. On Sundays, they would take their pupils for walks and enjoyed the "ornamental lake where one could swim" spanned by an elegant bridge.

The Juvenels, like several other of these families, were proud of their connection to the Reboul family whose most glorious member is Henri Reboul (1763-1839). Having distinguished himself in his youth as a fine geologist and chemist, he became friends with the famous chemist Lavoisier and settled in Burgundy but came back to Pézenas in 1803 when his father died. As a member of the Institut, he drafted the bill creating the National Museum in the Louvre, and was one of four members responsible for organizing the collections.
A brilliant deputy of the Legislative Assembly, he then followed Napoleon Bonapart who nominated him to the provisional government of Lombardy. After a spell in Rome, where he was a member of the directory of the Roman Republic, this man of culture, who was also a painter, came back loaded with major works of art.

After unsuccessful business ventures, however, Reboul died penniless in 1839. His great-niece Marie, who married her neighbour Henri de Juvenel en 1840, lived in Montpezat where Henri died in 1875, followed by Marie in 1902, leaving the estate to her sons Pierre and Xavier.

Montpezat was entirely given over to wine-growing, and around 1884 the present chateau was built on the estate. Its rather stark architecture is enlivened by a pediment bearing the arms of the Juvenels in memory of their long possession. In 1896 the estate was producing 8000 hl and in 1906 Pierre de Juvenel was producing 4000 hl in Aigues-Vives.

In 1923, Montpezat and Saint-Palais passed on to M. Louis Guy; after his death in 1970, his daughter Mme Blanc inherited Montpezat and his son M. Gérard Guy inherited Saint-Palais.

Christophe BLANC
Vintner, Chateau de Montpezat
34120 Pézenas -France
Phone : +334 67 98 10 84
contact@chateau-montpezat.com