Centuries of history
The Château de Couches, also known as the Château de Marguerite de Bourgogne, is a listed French historic monument. The château occupies a vast quadrangle, still surrounded by walls levelled on three sides.
In the south-east corner stands a tall tower, probably built in the 12th century to control the original access to the fortress; in the 15th century, it was fitted with a turret containing a spiral staircase. The eastern curtain wall is flanked at its center by the base of a dismantled square tower, and between the two 12th-century round towers is the late-Gothic chapel, built in 1460 by Claude de Montagu on the site of a small sanctuary. The chapel is followed by a rectangular main building flanked by two square towers, all in the 19th-century “troubadour” style.
Within the château is an enclosed vineyard covering just under three hectares, planted with Aligoté, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to produce the wines of the promising Bourgogne Côtes-du-Couchois appellation.
