Château Pichon Baron
If you are in search of a true fairy-tale château, may I recommend that you start with Château d’Ussé, near Bourgueil in the Loire Valley. This picturesque residence is widely regarded to have inspired Charles Perrault (1628 – 1703), author of La Belle au Bois Dormant, a tale better known to many as Sleeping Beauty. If these rather convincing credentials are insufficient there are a few other château-candidates I would suggest, starting with my personal favourite Château de Chenonceau, or perhaps the much-loved Château Azay-le-Rideau, in the Touraine Chenonceaux and Touraine Azay-le-Rideau appellations respectively. This latter château was built in the 16th century by Gilles Berthelot (died 1529), treasurer to François I (although in truth it was a heavy modification of a pre-existing fort rather than a new construction), the result rather Italianate in style, charming and elegant. Of note, Chenonceau (no terminal -x for the château, if you were wondering) and Azay-le-Rideau both sport distinctive witch’s-hat roofs on their corner towers.
But it is not just to the Loire Valley we should look; Bordeaux also has its own version of the fairy-tale château, and here too there are several contenders. Although Château Palmer undoubtedly warrants a mention, the two châteaux that bear the name of the ancient Pichon vineyard would top the list of many. Château Pichon Baron (the full title of which is Château Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville – I will join with the majority in the wine trade, and the owners themselves, and stick with the simplified Pichon Baron) is perhaps the strongest contender, the keen, conical roofs sitting atop their circular towers lending the building an almost magical feel.
In fact there is something naggingly familiar about its appearance, especially those witch’s-hat turrets at either side, enough for some to suggest this is not coincidental. According to the late Clive Coates (1941 – 2022), writing in Grands Vins (University of California Press, 1995), Château Pichon Baron (pictured below), built in 1851 at the behest of Raoul de Pichon-Longueville, was intentionally modelled on the aforementioned Loire Valley fairy-tale châteaux, in particular Azay-le-Rideau. It makes sense, although I was never able to find anyone other than Coates making this claim, and the similarities between Pichon Baron and various Loire châteaux perhaps reflects the use of common themes in Renaissance architecture rather than one being a copy of another.
