History of Chateau d’Esclans

Chateau d’Esclans’ is located on an exceptional site, on elevated land near the Gorges de Pennafort, twenty kilometers northwest of the ancient Roman city of Frejus on the Mediterranean coast. The first traces of the chateau’s site date back to Gaullist times during which its location served as a lookout point to spot intruders coming by boat into the Gulf of Frejus.

The chateau’s cellar structure or foundation (known today as the oldest in the region) housed an original Chateau that was given by the Comte de Provence to Gérard De Villeneuve, in 1201. The De Villeneuves, an illustrious family from Marseille, would own Chateau d’Esclans and the land around it for centuries to come.

The surrounding land around Chateau d’Esclans is known as La Vallee des Esclans (the valley of the clans). At one point the entire area was part of the chateau’s property and over time was gradually parceled out.

The current chateau is inspired by a Tuscan Villa and was built during the 19th century. Its first known proprietors after the deVilleneuves were two brothers, Sauver Louis Ranque and Francois Alexandre Ranque. In January of 1875, the Ranque brothers sold Chateau d’Esclans, then known as Terre d’Esclans, to the inventor of the French Wooden Match, Joseph Toussaint Caussemille whose family owned Chateau d’Esclans until 1955. During World War II the Chateau was occupied by the Germans. Coincidentally, La Motte was the first village in Provence to be liberated by the allied forces.

In 1955 Chateau d’Esclans was purchased by The Perraud family who owned it until 1994. During that year, it was sold to a Swedish pension fund which produced nominal quantities of wine and sold the bulk of the grapes it produced to neighboring domains.

In 2006 Sacha Lichine acquired Chateau d’Esclans beginning a new and exciting history for this remarkable chateau and the 267 hectares surrounding it.