Max Feschet is the proprietor of the Petit-Barbaras winery and wrote me several interesting e-mails concerning the history of Barbaras:
...I was born in Barbaras, which is presently known as the Commune of Bouchet. (26790 Drôme)... I am also the Mayor of Bouchet and interested in the history.
It seems certain that the name Barbaras comes from the time of the Romans, B.C., as there was an important Roman villa located there whose leader must have been Greek: the Roman villa was also known as the Villa of Barbaras ("stranger" in Greek). Today, there is barely a vestige, only various Roman coins.
It is thought that there was a village which was partly destroyed during wars in the 7th or 8th century. There was a great church whose remains were later used to construct a chapel in the village of Bouchet around 1715.
... In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Territory of Barbaras belonged to the Count of the castle of Suze la Rousse. Towards the end of the 19th century, the Count of Suze sold a part of Barbaras and called that domaine, "Petit Barbaras". My grand-father purchased the "Domaine du Petit Barbaras in 1929."
- Max Feschet