Capion Castle: A Historic Wine Estate in France
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- French
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Manor House
On this page11 sections
History
Capion Castle, also called Château de Capion, is a historic residence and wine estate in Aniane, France. Its origins are traced to the sixteenth century, when an early construction was mentioned in old manuscripts, while its foundation is also dated to the seventeenth century. Known in Occitan as “Capiou,” the property developed into a wine estate during the nineteenth century.
Nineteenth-Century Wine Estate
The castle underwent major changes during the nineteenth century, including the construction of a north wing. An acquisition deed from 1828 described a residence with reception and domestic rooms, a small space used as a church, vaulted cellars, stables, a bread oven, and a horseshoe-shaped staircase. In 1873, the estate belonged to the Keittinger family, whose ownership provides the first documented trace cited for the property.
The estate has continued to produce wine in the modern era. Its wines include white, rosé, and red varieties classified under Terrasses-du-Larzac AOP, Languedoc AOC, Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert IGP, and Pays d’Oc IGP. AOP and AOC are French protected-origin classifications, while IGP identifies products associated with a defined geographical area.
Twentieth-Century Ownership
In the early twentieth century, the Wormser family, Jewish wine merchants, acquired the property. The owners were deported to Auschwitz in 1944. Auschwitz was the largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp complex during the Second World War, in occupied Poland.
The Salasc family acquired Capion Castle during the 1960s. They were agricultural operators who had been expropriated during the creation of Lake Salagou. In 1996, the Bürher family purchased the estate and undertook renovations that reshaped its gardens and ornamental features.
Recent Transformation
In 2016, the Russian businessman Oleg Tchirkounov acquired the castle and began converting the estate to organic agriculture. It received organic-agriculture certification in 2020. Ownership passed in 2023 to Francis Ingrand, president of the Montpellier-based company Plug In Digital, and his wife, Sandrine Tannière.
Remains
Capion Castle is a residence and wine-estate complex with eclectic and historicist architecture. Eclectic architecture combines elements from different historical styles, while historicist architecture deliberately refers to earlier architectural traditions. The earlier residence, its nineteenth-century north wing, agricultural spaces, vaulted storage areas, and landscaped grounds together form the surviving estate.
Castle Residence and Estate Buildings
Residence and North Wing
The residence includes the nineteenth-century north wing, a major addition to the earlier castle. The 1828 description listed a reception room, dining room, bedrooms, and kitchen on the first floor. More bedrooms and two hay barns occupied the second floor, while the prominent horseshoe-shaped staircase connected the parts of the building.
Service and Agricultural Spaces
On the ground floor, a small room served as a church. The same level contained a bread-baking oven, two large vaulted cellars or storage rooms, and vaulted stables. These spaces reflect the combined residential and agricultural functions of the estate.
Gardens and Vineyards
Formal Grounds
Renovation under the Bürher family added or developed fountains, a formal French garden, and an ornamental pond. The estate also includes a dovecote inspired by Italian architecture. A dovecote is a structure designed to house domesticated pigeons or doves.
Vineyard Land
The estate covers approximately 96 hectares, including about 47 hectares planted with vines. The vineyard area remains part of the property’s agricultural character and supports its production as a wine estate.
Nearby sites
