Domaine Montariol Degroote

The history of Domaine Montariol Degroote begins beside the Canal du Midi, at a property that once served as the country retreat of Pierre-Paul Riquet, the seventeenth-century engineer and architect who conceived and built the canal connecting the Atlantic to the Mediterranean across the south of France. Pierre Degroote and Stéphan Montariol acquired this property and the neighbouring Domaine Galetis in 1996, and their company has expanded steadily ever since.

Domaine Montariol Degroote now operates four châteaux and six domaines across the Languedoc, with more than 600 hectares under vine. The scale makes it one of the larger family-controlled wine operations in southern France, but the work has been organised around terroir rather than volume. Each property has been replanted with what the partners consider noble varieties for its specific soils and microclimate, and the wines are bottled by estate rather than blended into a single label.

The portfolio takes in multiple Languedoc appellations alongside IGP Pays d’Oc and Vin de France. The winery’s Vin de France ‘animal trio’ neatly serve up food-pairing recommendations under the guise of branding: Grande Crevette (a Sauvignon Blanc with a large shrimp on the label), Cochon Rose (a Syrah rosé fronted by a pink pig), and Filet Mignon (a Carignan red emblazoned with a cow). It goes without saying that you wouldn’t find such whimsical labelling in an AOC, where the rules forbid imagery and naming that distract from regional identity, and prohibit single-variety labelling for grapes whose appellations require blends. For Domaine Montariol Degroote, this permissive category is the route to a different kind of consumer.