Open from April to the end of October, Wednesday to Sunday, and from November to March, Monday to Friday. Free for children under 5. Adults: €13.50. Online ticketing.
My Family History, by Amadeus
I was born at the Hôtel Dieu in Beaune, Burgundy, where grape juice has long been everywhere...
My family is one of the oldest in our home village, Santenay, because my great-great-great grandfather Louis Nié imagined, almost 150 years ago, the great family estate of which everyone is so proud!
Le Clos Bellefond is the house where I grew up and now, it's my Dad and Mom who continue to grow the vines there...who make something they told me I couldn't taste yet because I was too little: well, I'll just have to wait...
When I was playing there with my fire trucks, I always heard mysterious names like CHASSAGNE-MONTRACHET, VOLNAY, POMMARD and of course SANTENAY...My daddy said to me one day "these are the grands Crus" and I asked him if there were any petits crus...he smiled.
It seems that two great Knights run in the rows of my family's vineyards, the Knight Chardonnay and the Knight Pinot Noir: they are careful never to mix with others because they are the two Kings of the Burgundy grape varieties. They both have character and the winemakers of the Family love to talk about their typicity as they say.
One day I heard Mom say that the Family's wines need to be aged for almost 20 months, so that they can grow well in those barrels that always intrigue me when I walk past them and knock on them to hear what's inside: but I beat them all because Mom continues to age me even though I'm not 20 months old anymore.
Sometimes, when I go down under the House, I mustn't make too much noise because all the bottles are sleeping in the Cellars, until they go on a trip to the four corners of the world, I hear. Well, for the moment, I'm not allowed to open them...
And then one day, my second House arrived: with my sister Lily-Rose, Mum and Dad took us to a fabulous place that I was immediately excited about because I found hiding places everywhere!
Today, my House in La Ferté-Fresnel is full of life, with people coming to see us from everywhere, it's funny...Mom and Dad say they don't want our new House to be sleepy and I'm fine with that. And you know what we call it?
The Castle of Dreams...
Amadeus