London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Aug 24, 2025

A 17th-Century Château in France Gets a Monumental, Sustainability-Focused Restoration

A 17th-Century Château in France Gets a Monumental, Sustainability-Focused Restoration

French architect Didier Repellin leads the recent remodel of the Château de La Chaize estate and winery, drawing inspiration from its original design principles to deliver a modern facility with attention to conservation-both historical and environmental.

Standing at the foot of a full-moon shaped fountain that looks toward the entrance of Château de La Chaize-an estate and winery founded in 1676-one sees a quintessential French domain with blue shutters, a cream-colored facade, and perfectly manicured bushes that line a pathway to a door above which an haute-relief of Bacchus welcomes visitors.



Set across 990 acres of landscaped grounds and vineyards in Burgundy’s Beaujolais region, the 17th-century Château de La Chaize boasts elegant proportions based on the Golden Ratio.

What you don’t see, says Didier Repellin, the architect tasked with modernizing and restoring this historic southern Beaujolais property, is the brilliance of its original makers and artisans: The carpenters. The masons. The stonecutters, engineers, and painters. Without them, without looking to the past, it is impossible to plan and appreciate the present, let alone engage with the future.

"We sometimes forget that historical monuments are not only a date or a style of architecture, but a celebration of human genius," says Repellin of Château de La Chaize, which was classified as a historical monument in 1972. "What is not seen is what makes it stand," the architect continues. "Had it not been for the exceptional work of the masons, we would have cracks everywhere, or destruction. When we see where they started from-a medieval castle-and what they managed to rebalance, we must have total humility and respect."



Founder Jean-François de La Chaize d’Aix hired architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart and landscape architect André Le Nôtre to design Château de La Chaize roughly 350 years ago. To carry out the recent restorations without undermining the château’s historical integrity, owner Christophe Gruy called on Didier Repellin, head architect of the French Historical Monuments.

Indeed, Château de La Chaize itself was built on the original foundations of another castle called La Douze, facing Mont Brouilly. In 1670, Jean-François de La Chaize d’Aix, King Louis XIV’s lieutenant, purchased the structure and hired architects Jules Hardouin-Mansart to design a new château using the tenants of the Golden Ratio-a mathematical ratio commonly found in nature that describes a perfect symmetry between two proportions. He also assigned landscape architect André Le Nôtre, gardener to the king who developed the gardens of Versailles, to adopt similar techniques when imagining the château’s green spaces.

It’s no wonder that now, centuries later, the current architect tasked with updating the grounds is more enamored with conservation than total renovation. "If it is good, why would we touch it?" Repellin says. "On the contrary, we must magnify it. This is a true opportunity to allow the monument to continue to live by adapting it to contemporary needs."



The Château, La Chaize vineyard, and the newly restored chai (storeroom), pictured above, are all registered as French historical monuments.

So what, exactly, has been magnified? To the untrained eye, not much. (And that, says Repellin, equals success.) But under Christophe Gruy, entrepreneur and chairman of the Lyon-based Maïa Group, who purchased the estate in 2017, the adjustments to Château de La Chaize’s core and spirit are massive. For one, the team has recreated a domain-wide entrance linked to the cellar and constructed solid walkways. A new bottling and storage facility has also been built using a 100 percent gravity-production system to ensure minimal carbon footprint from grape to bottle.



Owner Christophe Gruy and his nephew, winemaker Boris Gruy, are leading the estate toward more sustainable efforts with the goal of being certified organic in time for the 2022 harvest.

Furthermore, the entire estate is now dedicated to highlighting sustainable efforts, moving toward the use of solar panels for electricity, recycling to achieve "zero waste," geothermal water treatments, and more. When it comes to actual wine production, the goal is to be certified organic in time for the 2022 harvest. While its chai (pronounced "shay")-one of France’s oldest operating aboveground storerooms-remains intact, Repellin and his team enhanced its remarkable wooden framework to highlight the stainless-steel tanks, even adding a VIP lounge behind a glass wall.



Château de La Chaize’s nearly 400-foot-long cellar, built almost a century after the estate was founded, was one of the largest cellars in the world at that time.



The Chai contains numerous large stainless steel and concrete tanks, and oak barrels, providing the space for the winery to vinify each parcel of land they harvest separately.

The key, he says, is to remember that we are still here to build for humans, by humans. "A monument is a conservatory of old techniques, especially when they are good and still have things to teach," Repellin says. "We have to adapt [the structures] to today’s circumstances, but we must keep the spirit and the reason it was made."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
A new faith called Robotheism claims artificial intelligence isn’t just smart but actually God itself
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner Purchases Third Property Amid Housing Tax Reforms Debate
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Italian Facebook Group Sharing Intimate Images Without Consent Shut Down Amid Police Investigation
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
Sam Nicoresti becomes first transgender comedian to win Edinburgh Comedy Award
Builders uncover historic human remains in Lancashire house renovation
Australia Wants to Tax Your Empty Bedrooms
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
FBI Investigates John Bolton Over Classified Documents in High-Profile Raids
Report reveals OpenAI pitched national ChatGPT Plus subscription to UK ministers
Labour set to freeze income tax thresholds in long-term 'stealth' tax raid
Coca‑Cola explores sale of Costa coffee chain
Trial hears dog walker was chased and fatally stabbed by trio
Restaurateur resigns from government hospitality council over tax criticism
Spanish City funfair shut after serious ride injury
Suspected arson at Ilford restaurant leaves three in critical condition
Tottenham beat Manchester City to go top of Premier League
Bank holiday heatwave to hit 30°C before remnants of Hurricane Erin arrive
UK to deploy immigration advisers to West Africa to block fake visas
Nurse who raped woman continued working for a year despite police alert
Drought forces closures of England’s canal routes, canceling boat holidays
Sweet tooth scents: food-inspired perfumes surge as weight-loss drugs suppress appetites
Experts warn Britain dangerously reliant on imported food
Family of Notting Hill Carnival murder victim call event unmanageable
Bunkers, Billions and Apocalypse: The Secret Compounds of Zuckerberg and the Tech Giants
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
×