Château de la Roche

Chateau de la Roche is situated around a manor house dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries, near the hamlet of Belle Croix, on the old “de la Pucelle” road linking Chinon to Tours used by Joan of Arc before crossing the Indre via the Port Hualt ford, on tuesday April 5th 1429.

The property covers 35 hectares, bordered on one side by the Chinon Forest and on the other by views of the Indre and Loire valleys.

The Chateau was owned by Urbain de Maille in 1597, whose son Albert was the godson of the Lord of the neighboring hillside castle, the Court of Berruyer.
Futher documentation shows that on June 29, 1644, the Lord of La Roche was one Nicolas le Simple.

In 1680, ownership passed to Marie-Renee de Gourdault, originally from the Abbey at Turnay.

Vines were always a feature of the property, which was a supplier of wine to the Courts of Paris and Versailles. The end of the 18th century witnessed significant work on the property’s cellars and storage rooms for the wine. Two vertical-screw presses, one of which is still present today, were used to crush the grapes, producing 750 hectolitres (100,000 bottles) of wine.