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Origin and history

The Château de Boursault found its origins in a modest residence of the early 19th century, owned by the Chevigné family. In 1817, Louis de Chevigné's marriage with Clémentine Clicquot-Ponsardin, the only daughter of the Veuve Clicquot, linked the estate to the famous champagne house. The rich heir first finances repairs before a more ambitious project emerges: the complete reconstruction of the castle.

The decision to build a new castle was taken after the marriage in 1839 of Marie-Clémentine de Chevigné (granddaughter of the Veuve Clicquot) with Count Louis de Rochechouart-Mortemart. The architect Jean Jacques Nicolas Arveuf-Francsquin, then engaged in the cathedral of Reims, designed a Renaissance-style building between 1842 and 1848. The first stone was laid solemnly by the young Paul of Mortemart, son of the couple, in August 1842. The eleven-hectare park, designed by the same architect, completes this Champagne jewel.

Under the impetus of the Veuve Clicquot, the castle becomes a place of lavish receptions where the regional elite meets. The ground floor, decorated with woodwork carved by Klagmann and a monumental stone fireplace in Burgundy, rivals the most beautiful castles of the Loire. The motto NATIS MATER (a mother to her children), engraved on the facade, recalls the gift of the estate to its descendants. After 1866, the property passed to Anne de Rochechouart-Mortemart, Duchess of Uzès, who organized sumptuous festivals there before selling it in 1913.

During the two world wars, the castle was transformed into a military hospital. Since 1927, it has been home to a winery producing Champagne Château de Boursault, the only cuvée to bear the appellation "Château" in the Marne. The park, ranked among the remarkable gardens, and the remains of the original mansion (a house body and a tower near the church) testify to its bicentennial history.

An architectural anecdote binds Boursault to Arcachon: in 1853, Adalbert Deganne, mayor of the city and a lost lover of Marie-Clémentine de Chevigné, built a small replica of the castle, now the summer casino. This Renaissance pastiche, with its white turrets visible on the Veuve Clicquot portrait by Léon Cogniet, remains a symbol of the family's cultural and wine-making influence.

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