Chateau de Ferrand Le Different 2012 75cl

The existence of the Château de Ferrand began at the very beginning of the 18th century with the story of immense consideration. That of Elie de Bétoulaud towards his good king Louis XIV, whose grandeur, influence, and love of the arts in general and literature in particular he admired in every way.

Elie de Bétoulaud, a worthy gentleman of his time, maintains a symbolic, sensitive, and sensual relationship with nature. Like his great friend, the poet Madeleine de Scudéry, he knows the Carte de Tendre like the back of his hand, the map that translates landscapes into feelings. An enthusiastic aesthete, he wants to pay homage to Louis XIV. Elie de Bétoulaud, like his beloved Sun King, thinks big. A dominant position in the Saint-Émilion vineyard, an immense sky, an exceptional view of the Dordogne valley, a mild climate: this is the perfect setting for his admiration! It will be here and nowhere else.

So, like a mirror to the elegance, eccentricity, and joy of Versailles, Elie de Bétoulaud had Ferrand built. A domain whose secrets have perhaps not all been revealed yet.

Slightly below the castle, here are the mysterious Ferrand Caves, with their lyre-shaped plan, opening onto the Dordogne Valley. The celebration of the harmony of nature finds an ideal expression here: Elie de Bétoulaud turned it into a cabinet of curiosities where fossils, rare shells and sculptures were piled up, among which informed guests recognized the figures of Hercules, Caesar, Augustus, Mars, and of course... Louis XIV.

Louis XIV would only ever know the Château de Ferrand by name, and Elie de Bétoulaud would only ever know Louis XIV by reputation. It was while traveling to Paris by carriage to meet him that the lawyer-artist died of a heart attack.

Without direct descendants but a poet even in the afterlife, Elie de Bétoulaud bequeathed the Château de Ferrand through a poetry competition to his great-grandnephews, including the Marquis de Mons, who, from generation to generation, kept the château until 1978.