Description

In June 2015, La Clape became the Languedoc’s first « Appellation Communale ». This latest success is however, only the most recent chapter in a winemaking history that dates back 2,000 years! Julius Cesar gifted this rocky outcrop overlooking the Mediterranean to his most favoured legionnaires as a reward. The Roman soldiers of the 10th Legion were thus the first to plant vines on the La Clape headland. Their choice of the Bourboulenc grape variety was no accident, since it was considered in Greek mythology to confer wisdom on those who drank it! Traders through and through, the Romans exported their wines widely and with great success. Winemaking continued for centuries and more than a thousand years later, the Languedoc was brought under the rule of the French King Louis VIII. Much of the region was then governed, on behalf of the King, by the Baillys d’Anglès from 1226 until the French Revolution. During that time the property was occupied for 500 years by a royal garrison in charge of guarding the entrance to the Aude river, an important maritime trading route. It was Barthélémy Etienne d’Anglès, local mayor, who took the property back after the Revolution. The vineyards remained the property of the Anglès family for more than a hundred years. After the estate was split in two in the late 19th century, the Fabre family was able to reunite it as Château d’Anglès at the beginning of this new and promising millenium.