Twenty hectares of vines and one hectare of olive trees

The Ferme des Lices

AN UNUSUAL CONCEPT, A NAME SYNONYMOUS WITH QUALITY

The terroir

The Ferme des Lices occupies a dream position in the heart of the Saint-Tropez Peninsula, on the south-east Var coast, in the Salins Plain. Saint-Tropez enjoys this exceptional location, with an excellent amount of sunshine, in a typically Mediterranean climate. The mistral, whose force is diminished by the mountains of the Massif des Maures, represents a unique form of protection against the cold spells of the higher land.
The soils, covering the bedrock of granite, are composed of schist and sand, thus enabling the vine roots to dig very deep.

History

In the 6th century BC, the Phoceans founded Anthenopolis in the place where the town of Saint-Tropez stands today. In 1793, it was named Heraclee and became Saint-Tropez in 1801, in tribute to Torpes, an officer in Nero's army.
The vines were planted there by the Phoceans. The wine and olive oil business flourished thanks to maritime trade.
In the late 19th/early 20th centuries, many writers such as Guy de Maupassant, Joseph Kessel, Jean Cocteau or Marcel Pagnol discovered and widely promoted Saint-Tropez. Thus the town became a famous tourist destination and holiday homes began to develop there.

Birth of the Estate

The story of the Ferme des Lices resembles a fairy tale. Some fifty years ago, a charming vineyard in the vicinity of the beach of St-Tropez, previously owned by Monsieur ANGELVIN, was threatened by a property development consisting of eight plots, and the vines were thus destined to disappear. That was before Laurence Berlemont came up with an unusual concept.
Saint-Tropez, an eternal source of inspiration for painters such as Matisse, Bonnard, Marquet or Dufy, and writers like Colette or Signac, also inspired Laurence Berlemont, for the pleasure of our palate.
In the late 1990's, an English lady, who had bought the first plot of these adjoining vineyards, placed her trust in Laurence Berlemont - who at that time was a young, little known oenologist - and rented out her vineyard. The other owners followed and by 2002, Laurence Berlemont had assembled six plots of vines and three olive groves belonging to holiday owners, keen to give the vineyard a new lease of life. This unusual concept appealed to those owners.
Laurence Berlemont formed a partnership with Patrick Deveaux to carry out this project.
The vines have gradually been restored to perfect condition and one owner's garage has been converted into a winery..., an estate was born: the Ferme des Lices.

Who is Laurence Berlemont, the person at the origin of this exceptional adventure?

A graduate of the Institut National Agronomique of Paris Grignon, as an Engineer in Agronomy, and of the ENSA of Montpellier, as an oenologist, Laurence Berlemont has been a taster for the International Olive Council since 2001 and an Agricultural and Land Expert since 2008. Laurence Berlemont became a consultant in 1995, specialising first in viticultural and oenological consulting and then olive-growing, which she knows fairly well thanks to the small family olive grove she farms and which she has been running since she was eighteen.
Laurence Berlemont was soon entrusted with the running and developing of some of her clients' estates. She started with only a few but today, with her team of four consultants, she manages some forty estates.