French term for a vineyard. However, it does not necessarily have to be a "castle" or even a "castle-like building". The use of the term is therefore not linked to whether there is a castle or not, as it is not uncommon for there to be none at all. However, individual, especially historic, wineries do indeed have magnificent buildings that truly deserve the name. Among the most attractive are Château Beychevelle (Saint-Julien), Château Chasse-Spleen (Moulis), Château d'Issan (Margaux), Château Margaux (Margaux) and Château Pichon-Longueville Baron (Pauillac). More similar to a castle are Château Rauzan-Ségla (Margaux) and Château d'Yquem (Sauternes). There are over 4,000 châteaux in France, but the term is most commonly used in Bordeaux. According to another version, "Château" is not derived from the French word for "castle", but from "Chai" (Chaisteau) for "barrel cellar". The correct name would therefore be "Chaisteau".
Especially in the Médoc region, the term château has a very special meaning. There, it is a trademark, so to speak, which, at least for the 61 wineries classified in 1855, is almost equivalent to the significance of an own appellation (see under Bordeaux classification). Often, a better quality is assumed if "Château" appears in the wine designation, although it has no significance in wine law. This is sometimes exploited in an inflationary manner, with winegrowers' cooperatives also using it to designate wines of lower quality. In Burgundy, château is equivalent to domaine, in Germany to château, in Portugal to palacio and in the English-speaking New World, such as California or Australia, to estate.
Of course, there are also wineries with castle-like buildings in many other countries. A very fine example is the Robert Weil winery in the German wine-growing region of Rheingau. The main building in the municipality of Kiedrich is the former villa of the aristocratic English patron of the arts, Sir John Sutton (1820-1873):
There are also very beautiful winery buildings in Austria, one of the many examples being that of the Domäne Wachau winegrowers' cooperative. Attached to it is the "Kellerschlössel", built by master builder Jakob Prandtauer (1660-1726), with a huge natural cellar. Historic meetings took place here in 1955. The then Austrian Foreign Minister Leopold Figl (1902-1965) had access with his own key and often invited high-ranking politicians and diplomats to nightly negotiations in the run-up to the signing of the Austrian State Treaty. According to contemporary witnesses, the wines enjoyed on these occasions, such as "Dürnsteiner Katzensprung", contributed to the success of the treaty signing.
Two examples from overseas are the Francis Ford Coppola Winery in Napa Valley in California (USA), named after the famous owner (director of the films "The Godfather " and "Apocalypse Now" ) and Groot Constantia in South Africa:
Other terms for wine-producing businesses are Azienda vinicola (Italy), Domaine or also Mas (in the south of France, especially Burgundy), Estate (New World) and Weingut (Germany and Austria).
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