Winegrower’s house in Beaumont

The winemaker’s house is testimony to a previously prosperous business in Beaumont and on all the hillsides of Limagne from the Middle Ages to the 19th century: vine growing Documents from the 14th to 18th century attest to its importance in Beaumont. In 1545, Abbaye Saint-Pierre featured ten large cellars(…)

The winemaker’s house is testimony to a previously prosperous business in Beaumont and on all the hillsides of Limagne from the Middle Ages to the 19th century: vine growing Documents from the 14th to 18th century attest to its importance in Beaumont. In 1545, Abbaye Saint-Pierre featured ten large cellars in its vat rooms and in 1792 its footprint included 15 hectares of vines. In 1831 the Beaumont vineyard spanned 263 hectares over 3,910 plots. After its heyday, the Beaumont vineyard was completely destroyed by phylloxera between 1890 and 1895.

The region has two types of winemaker houses.

The first type is the traditional winemaker house located in the village centre. A narrow construction, it houses both the business premises and the living quarters: a buried cave for wine storage, a vat room on the ground floor for pressing and fermentation, a single room with living quarters on the first floor, accessed via an outdoor staircase, and an attic under the roof.

The second type of house was developed in the second half of the 19th century, at the height of vine growing. It reflected the economic and social success of the winemaker. These houses are more imposing and generally have an extra floor for living quarters. They use Volvic stone for the window and door frames, storey separation panels, cornices and corner quoins. They have balconies with guardrails in metalwork or cast iron. They also have courtyards and technical buildings that give the residence a certain professional dimension, focused on the exclusive and important business of wine production.

The streets around the abbey feature many examples of these houses with vat rooms and cellars.