The Hidden Caves Under Chateau De La Rivière

On my recent trip to France, we visited Chateau De La Rivière. It is a beautiful chateau and winery that dates back to 1577. The family that built it kept it for over 500 years. It is the largest estate in the Fronsac area of the Bordeaux wine region in France and sits atop a high hill overlooking the river. The chateau’s restoration was carried out in the 19th century by famous French architects including Viollet Le Duc, who also restored the Notre Dame cathedral.

We toured the gardens of the estate which look out over beautiful hillsides covered in grapevines.

The views from the outdoor patios were spectacular looking out over the rows and rows of vines. You can see the river off in the distance in the second photo below.

In addition to being able to tour the chateau and do wine tastings, they also had accommodations in the chateau for paying guests. The pool below looked like a great place to hang out on vacation and sip on wine.

The Secrets Underground

After touring the gardens, we walked down the hill along the road we drove in on. There was a door going into the side of the hill. Our guide explained that this was the entrance to the limestone quarries that all of the castles and chateaus are built from in the region, including the one on the hill above us. She said that during WWII, the villagers placed a cross at this entrance and put fresh flowers there every day to convince the Nazis that it was the entrance to a burial crypt. They never went in during the entire occupation. If they had they might have found the French Resistance fighters that were living there.

Our guide took us in for a tour of just a small portion of the 25 kilometers of caves carved out of the limestone under this hill.

I would not have wanted to be down there without a guide to help me find my way out. There was passage after passage leading to a variety of different underground rooms.

This was a long meeting room with the chairs and table carved out of limestone.

And there were lots of small rooms where you could see the graffiti carved into the stone by the Resistance.

The room below housed a freshwater spring down the center that proved very useful to the fighters hiding there.

And as you may have noticed, there were bottles of wine everywhere. Over a half million bottles are currently being stored in the limestone caves since the temperature and humidity is perfect for aging wine. And there were bottles of all vintages down there.

Eventually our tour exited the caves into the kitchen a few steps from the gardens and patio where we started our tour.

This chateau ranked high among the many we saw on our trip to France, but the tour through the underground caves and the history of this site told by our tour guide was my favorite of the trip. I hope you enjoyed the tour.

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