Château d’Épiré

Château d’Épiré is a wine estate in the village of Épiré, within Savennières in Maine-et-Loire. Chenin Blanc is central to its white wines, grown on a varied geological setting that includes schist and sandstone. The estate’s cellars occupy the village’s former Romanesque church, acquired by the family in 1882 and converted into a chai in 1906. The present château belongs to nineteenth-century rebuilding; the regional heritage inventory describes renovation from 1838 and substantial works in the 1850s. This is distinct from the much older history of wine growing in the area. The estate offers wine tourism and tasting arrangements through its own website. Its architectural interest includes the reuse of a religious building for production, as well as the house and wider Loire setting.

Épiré offers a precise connection between wine and architectural reuse. A cellar within a former church is not simply an atmospheric setting: it records a change in the village’s use of space. Connecting that building with the slopes and a discussion of individual plots gives the wines a geographical and historical context.