Seminars and company events
Domaine de Verchant hosts seminars, conventions, product launches, gala dinners and cocktail receptions for 5 to 300 people, with 49 rooms and suites on site. The five-star hotel, a member of Relais & Châteaux, stands on a restored wine estate in Castelnau-le-Lez, at the gates of Montpellier in the Hérault.
The estate sells two business formats. A day seminar combines a meeting room from Monday to Friday, a welcome coffee, a three-course lunch and drinks. A residential seminar adds overnight stays and breakfast, with a minimum of six bedrooms and the Orangeraie room; residential stays run from Sunday to Thursday. The venue publishes a seminar brochure.
Meeting rooms are on one level and take daylight from the gardens and the vineyard. Equipment listed by the venue includes projectors and screens, a sound system, videoconferencing, wireless microphones, paperboards, a lectern, standing tables and Wi-Fi. Coaches can drop off at the door, and the car park holds 120 vehicles.
Weddings and receptions
Weddings and private receptions are the second activity of the estate. Ceremonies can take place in the shaded park, and the vin d'honneur is served in a traditional Languedoc courtyard with a fountain. Dinner moves to the air-conditioned Salle Prestige, which seats more than 200 guests and has a fitted dance floor, with a 200 m² terrace under a glass marquee facing the vines. Dedicated areas are set aside for caterers.
Rooms and capacities
The Salle Prestige measures 280 m² on the ground floor. It takes up to 300 people in theater layout, 250 for a seated dinner and 400 for a cocktail reception, and opens onto the gardens or the vineyard. The Salle du Grand Chai, 180 m², holds 30 to 150 people and splits into three rooms of 60 m² for workshops and break-out sessions. The Salle Orangeraie, 36 m², suits a board meeting of up to 15.
Accommodation
The hotel has 49 rooms and suites, mixing the historic house with contemporary design. Categories include double rooms, rooms with a balcony, rooms with a private plunge pool and a junior suite in the former pigeonnier. The estate also lists a guest house, the Maison d'hôtes Verchant, and the Villa Sarnelly. A 2,150 m² spa and a fitness club are open to guests, with programs built around detox, sleep, golf and tennis.
Catering
Two restaurants serve Mediterranean cooking based on seasonal produce: Marcelle and La Plage, the second set among the vines. Seminar packages include the welcome coffee and lunch. The estate makes its own wine and runs tastings in its cellar, which can be added to a seminar or a reception.
History and setting
Pierre Verchant, a Montpellier burgher, bought the farmstead from the Bishop of Montpellier on February 1, 1582, and his family kept it until 1762. Jules Leenhardt acquired the manor in 1878 and asked the Swiss landscape designers the Bühler brothers to lay out the park. Chantal and Pierre Mestre bought the estate in 2002, had the park listed as a historic monument and restored the site over more than seven years before opening it to guests in 2006.
Getting there
The address is 1 boulevard Philippe Lamour, 34170 Castelnau-le-Lez, on the northeast edge of Montpellier. Montpellier Saint-Roch station and Montpellier-Méditerranée airport are the closest rail and air links.
