Château de Messey
A fortified house near Tournus, reborn as an organic wine estate with rooms and winegrowers' cottages.
- Wine château
- 58 min from Beaune
- Tastings on site
- 16th century
€205one way from Beaune with a private driver
At a glance
- Commune
- Ozenay · Saône-et-Loire
- Style
- Fortified house with two facing wings
- Heritage
- Registered historic monument
- Official website
- chateaudemessey.com
Getting there
Private driver from Beaune: 58 min by road (71 km), €205 one way for the whole car.
Or add it to our full-day wine tour plus two hours, €700.
Coming by train or plane? Transfers from stations and airports →
About the château
The château of Messey sits in the green Natouze valley at Ozenay, about eight kilometres from Tournus. Two stone wings face each other across a courtyard, above vaulted cellars that once again hold fermenting wine. Today it is an organic wine estate that also welcomes guests in rooms and cottages.
History
Messey lies in a domain whose traces go back to 9th-century manuscripts, in a region shaped by the great abbeys of Tournus and Cluny. The fortified house, made of two wings facing each other, was built between the 11th and the 16th centuries. For centuries its vaulted cellars received the harvests of the estate, until winemaking at the château stopped in 1958.
The revival began when Marc Dumont bought a six-hectare wood at Cruzille and planted it with vines from 1989. The first harvest, three years later, was made at Messey, and the old cellars came back to life. The same year a plot of Mâcon-Chardonnay was planted facing the château, on the terroir known as Les Crêts. Today the estate farms two enclosed vineyards in two appellations.
Architecture
Messey is a compact fortified house built around a courtyard, with two wings that face each other. Beneath them lie fine vaulted cellars, the heart of the wine estate. The protected elements include the façades and roofs of the château, of a winegrower's house and of a mill, as well as a dovecote and an old south gate. The dining room keeps its panelling, sideboard and fireplace.
Visiting
Tips for your visit
The estate farms about ten hectares, entirely organic, and welcomes visitors for tastings and visits of the cellars and vines. Guests can also stay in rooms in the château or in five winegrowers' houses below it, beside the Natouze. Brancion is four kilometres away and Tournus eight. Tastings and visits are arranged on request, so contact the estate through its official website before you come.
Around here
What to combine with Château de Messey on the same day, nearest first.
Questions
Château de Messey is about 58 min from Beaune by road (71 km). With a private driver, the trip from Beaune starts at €205 for the whole car, up to 4 guests.
Did you know? The estate's historic plot, the Clos des Avoueries at Cruzille, was worked by the monks of Cluny in the 12th century. Its wine is sold today as Mâcon-Cruzille.
Sources
Château de Messey with a private driver
€205 one way from Beaune · up to 4 guests