Château-Chalon

Château-Chalon

Perched at over 450 metres on a rocky spur overlooking a reculée, one of the Jura's blind valleys, Château-Chalon owes its name to an abbey of women, first mentioned with certainty in 869 in a donation by Lothair II. Transformed in the 13th century into a chapter of noble canonesses required to prove sixteen quarterings of nobility, the community led a refined life in individual houses, far from classic monastic rigour. A Carolingian fortress with four corner towers protected the site; it was dismantled in 1470 by the troops of Louis XI and finally reduced to ruin in 1595 by the artillery of Henri IV during the Franco-Spanish wars. The abbey disappeared in 1790, under its last abbess, Charlotte-Anne-Sophie-Désirée de Stain, famous for owning a ruby named the "Watteville". Local tradition holds that the nuns acclimatised here, as early as the Middle Ages, a grape variety from Hungary that gave rise to savagnin, the sole grape of the celebrated vin jaune; modern ampelography disputes this lineage and links savagnin instead to the German traminers. Listed among the Plus Beaux Villages de France, the village preserves its feudal ruins, its Romanesque church of Saint-Pierre and its cellars devoted to vin jaune, granted appellation d'origine contrôlée status in 1936.

Getting there : Free access to the village and the ruins, listed among the Plus Beaux Villages de France; vin jaune cellars open for tastings; car park at the entrance to the village.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound