Two centuries of Château Saint Estève history

Saint Estève, Yesterday and Today

1809
Jean-Baptiste Henri Monier (1777-1844), a lawyer by trade and mayor of Orange, acquires the Saint Estève domaine.

1832
His eldest son, Charles Henri Monier (1807-1873), twice mayor of Orange, takes over management of the domaine. He is elected deputy of the Vaucluse.

1873
Charles Henri’s daughters, Jeanne Monier (1838-1906), married name Nugues, and her sister Octavie, take over the property.

1906
Jeanne Monier Arnavon (1864-1943), the wife of Jules Henri Monier (1843-1883), replaces Jeanne Nugues as head of the domaine up until 1918.

1919
Henri Monier de Saint Estève (1886-1954), Jules Henri Monier’s son and Jeanne and Octavie’s nephew, lives at Saint Estève until 1940 with his wife Suzanne and their daughter Hélène. He was mayor of Uchaux in 1919 and a member of the Conseil Général (departmental government). During this period, the domaine didn’t develop in any major way.

1950
Henri Monier’s daughter, Hélène, and his son-in-law, Gérard Français, suggest to Hélène’s father that they lease the property from him. Gérard, after having stepped down as administrator at the OECD, becomes with his wife a farmer at Saint Estève. Gérard Français brings his entrepreneurial and project experience, restructuring and renewing the vineyard, and identifying the most adapted grape varieties and vineyard parcels. Gérard plants with determination, builds the cellar, and renovates the other buildings.

1980
Marc Français, Gérard’s son, a determined perfectionist, starts working at the domaine in 1973. He has learned everything he knows working at the domaine. An innovator, he is responsible for introducing Viognier to the southern Rhone Valley. Marc is passionate about the terroir that he respects and cares for. Thanks to his initiative, the commune of Uchaux is classified as AOC Villages in 1983, before being promoted to Massif d’Uchaux in 2005. With his wife Thérèse, an informed classical music enthusiast who created the Liszt in Provence Festival, and his parents who live at the Château, they’ve created a new life at Saint Estève.