Villa Rieucoulon

Folie Montpellieraine: Architectural Extravagance and Regal Garden

An 18th-century working wine estate, this chateau inspired by Italian Renaissance structures has been pared back and sleekly restored to highlight its detailed period architecture—magnificent molding, flagstone floors, an elegant, windowed orangery, and vaulted passageways. The transformed space is gallery-like and seductive, a spare architectural crossroads of history and modernity.

Three globetrotters combined their passions for wine, discovery, and design in updating this chateau and working vineyard into a serenely elegant property created for gathering and hosting. The minimalist approach by Paris Belleville-based architects Bianchimajer peels back ornamentation, allowing the classic beauty of the space to shine anew. Set amid producing vines on a manicured green crossed by footpaths, hedges, fountains, basins and groves, the noble space stands as a genteel echo of the past recreated for modern unwinding. 

Vast common areas offer multiple entertaining halls, including a soaring orangery turned into a palatial dining room and a greenhouse converted into a sheltered swimming pool. The estate’s five suites are regal spots to lay your heads post celebration.

Set in a private park first planted in 1881 by its world-traveling aristocratic owner, the chateau offers a botanical showcase for multiple varieties of non-native trees—palms, Brazilian fruiting myrtle, North American sequoias and Lebanese Cedars. Giant cypress and gingko trees add to the botanical extravaganza. Vineyards dating from the property’s origins enclose the landscaped garden, and a bamboo grove stands adjacent to a dovecote. 

Around

The property is a quick 15 minutes from the heart of the Mediterranean city of Montpellier, which is some 10 kilometers inland from the coast. Montpellier is lesser known than other celebrated cities of the South of France like Nice and Marseille, but it's every bit as beautiful and storied. This is classic southern France, land of aromatic herbs, rocky inlands of timeless beauty, and an atmospheric old town dating to the 10th century, when the city was founded. A university town, the medieval heart of Montpellier is vibrant and youthful, pedestrian at its heart and full of streetfront cafes, outdoor markets, and wide parks and esplanades such as the Place du Peyrou with its own Arc de Triomphe anchoring one end, and a distant ancient aqueduct the other.

The town’s Jardin de Plantes is France’s oldest botanical garden, dating from the 1500s, with more than 2,500 species. Montpellier’s Musée Fabre houses works from the 14th to 20th centuries, including pieces by Monet, Degas and Rubens, and the Gothic Cathedral of St. Peter is the city’s most magnificent church. Known for its cultural events and festivals, the city is also home to two opera houses, many theaters, and multiple ancient university buildings.

Location

Montpellier, France. Nearest airport: Montpellier (15 minutes)

Best time to visit

March to October