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Languedoc Roussillon is La France Profonde, deepest France, the land of the Cathars, of ancient castles, of olive groves and the sound of cicadas. However, the signature of this vast region is wine. It dominates the lives, the landscape and the conversation of the people.
Autumn mist in the Minervois
Languedoc Roussillon lies in the heart of Cathar country, the 12th century heretics who were persecuted and destroyed by the second Crusade and the Inquisition. The Canal du Midi runs through the area and the Cité of Carcassonne is nearby - both are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The region stretches from the lower reaches of the Rhône Valley in the North-East, to the mountains of the Pyrenees and the Spanish border in the South. It encompasses the long Mediterranean coastline, with its vast stretches of sandy beaches, coastal salt water lagoons les étangs with wild flamingos, oyster and mussel beds and the picturesque fishing villages and artist colonies of Collioure and Banyuls.
To the north, the Black Mountains la Montagne Noire and the foothills of the Cevennes form a natural barrier and provide excellent walking in the Parc Régional du Haut Lanuguedoc. To the east, the Roman city of Nîmes forms the gateway to the Rhône Valley and the Camargue; Montpellier is the largest and most sophisticated city in the region with its wide boulevards, its ancient university and its Michelin-starred restaurants. Béziers sits on an escarpment over looking the river Orb and is home to the largest bullfighting festival outside of Spain. Narbonne is the ancient capital of Roman Gaul with its narrow medieval streets and smart boutiques clustered around the Canal du Robine. Perpignan in the deep south is the capital of Catalan France; and Carcassonne has a vibrant new town next to the ancient walled Cité of Carcassonne: said to be the best preserved medieval fortified town in Europe (mostly rebuilt in the 19c), it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Minervois and the Corbières
Our partner Domaines are in the Minervois and Corbières regions. Some of these ancient and beautiful vineyards date back to the Roman times. The rugged beauty of the Corbières with its limestone hills, gorges and remote villages contrasts with the more gentle landscapes of the Minervois, framed by the dramatic backdrop of the Montagne Noire.
The Minervois is characterised by a series of medieval fortified villages stretching across the gently sloping plain between the Montagne Noire and the Canal du Midi. The ancient circular pattern of these villages is almost perfectly preserved in the village of Aigne and can clearly be seen in many other villages such as Siran, Caune and Azille.
Between the villages the landscape is dominated by vines, occasionally interspersed by small olive groves and outcrops of garrigue. In the flatter southern Minervois the vineyards are large and regular with the vines usually grown on wire trellises échalasser for harvesting by machine. As the land starts to rise towards the Montagne Noire, vineyards are increasingly terraced and surrounded by dry stone walls. On this slope côte the vines are often trained to grow as individual bushes, or goblets, and are more likely to be hand harvested.
As you climb the first slopes of the Montagne Noire the landscape becomes more rugged, dominated by garrigue. This Mediterranean scrub is composed of low growing shrubs such as cistus, kermes oak, rosemary and thyme, which give the garrigue its characteristic scent.
The middle slopes of the Montagne Noire are blanketed with deep forests of oak and chestnut. In the autumn it's a great place to collect wild chestnuts for roasting and, if you know what you're doing, wild edible fungi. The tops of the Montagne Noire rise to over 1200m and resemble English moorland. This is a great place to walk in all seasons, with many marked foorpaths, and in high summer it is significantly cooler than down on the plain.
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| The varied landscape of the Minervois with vineyards planted on both the plains and steep hillsides, with the Montagne Noire in the background |
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South of the Canal du Midi and the N113, the ancient route of the Roman Via Domitia, the distinctive shape of the Montagne d'Alaric dominates the view and heralds the start of the Corbières. This dramatic and beautiful landscape is much steeper, dryer and wider than the Minervois, with infrequent, small villages and hamlets in the valley floors. The limestone hills are punctuated by a series of gorges and canyons that are followed by the roads - often narrow with steep drops. The medieval castles at Villerouge-Termenes and Termes, both worth a detour, were sympathetic to the Cathar heretics. The Corbières region stretches down to the coast with the seaside resorts such as Gruissan and picturesque lagoons with their oyster beds and exotic flocks of flamingoes.
The more dramatic landscape of the Corbières region
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