Château de La Rivière, Renaissance castle and wine estate in La Rivière, Gironde, France

Château de La Rivière is a 16th-century wine estate in La Rivière, Gironde, above the Dordogne valley. Its pale central block has rows of tall windows and dormers on dark slate roofs, flanked by two round towers with conical roofs; a lower wing extends left. The 100-hectare estate includes 65 hectares of AOC Fronsac vines.

Charlemagne installed a watchtower on a Gallo-Roman mound here in 769 to alert the military camp at Fronsac. Gaston de L'Isle IV, mayor of Bordeaux, began the present castle, completed in 1572. In 1639 Cardinal Richelieu, Duke of Fronsac, granted the estate to Marthe Viaud to end a succession dispute. The architect Duthoit, a pupil of Viollet-le-Duc, directed renovations finished in 1891.

The château gives its name to the commune of La Rivière, and the estate's 65 hectares of vines produce AOC Fronsac wines. Two-thirds of the vineyards are planted with Merlot, the rest with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. The tourist office of Saint-Germain-de-la-Rivière organises visits to the château and its cellars.

The estate lies in the commune of La Rivière, in Gironde, not in Dordogne; the Dordogne is the river below the hill. Visits to the castle and its cellars are arranged through the tourist office of Saint-Germain-de-la-Rivière. The 65 hectares of vines produce AOC Fronsac wines, and the former stone quarries serve as barrel cellars.

The estate's old stone quarries, cut into the limestone, now serve as vaulted cellars where wine barrels are stored. The château also made news in December 2013: its owner James Grégoire crashed his helicopter into the Dordogne while showing the estate from the air to buyer Lam Kok; both died, along with Lam Kok's 12-year-old son and an adviser. Lam Kok's widow survived and became sole owner.