Visitors to this untamed and historic region in the heart of the Languedoc will find a rugged sophistication – qualities reflected in the wines, says Mary Dowey
O get a feel for Corbières think of a face, not a place. Clint Eastwood, say, in his cowboy heyday – craggy and weathered, but able to exude polish once inside a dinner jacket. A dozen years ago the wines of this windswept, sun-drenched region were often on the rustic side of rugged. Today they show a more sophisticated profile – one reason to visit, especially as some of the best won’t have made their way to your local retailer. Plus, the landscape that stamps them so vividly is still gloriously untamed, making walking or cycling almost as rewarding as wine tasting.
The first surprise is the sheer scale of Corbières. Roughly square-shaped, the biggest appellation in the Languedoc and the fourth largest in France stretches from the outskirts of Carcassonne to the Mediterranean beyond Narbonne, its northern limit running close to the shiny, olive-green ribbon of the Canal du Midi. To the south lies Roussillon and the snow-topped Pyrenees.
Before plunging into wine, it may be useful to grasp at deep-rooted Corbières history. The citadel of Carcassonne, rebuilt so incessantly across two millennia that it is a compact architectural feast, points towards centuries of turbulence. This is Cathar country, as the Aude tourist board keeps insisting. Strongholds perched on outcrops of rock were a place of refuge for members of the Cathar religious movement when Pope Innocent III launched a bitter crusade against them in 1209. Climb to the uppermost battlements of Quéribus or Peyrepertuse and you will gasp at how remote the countryside feels even today.
Cistercian abbeys dating from the early Middle Ages are important too, both for their pared-back beauty and for a past entwined with wine. At the Abbaye de Fontfroide, one of the most exquisite, production has continued with only the occasional hiccup for 900 years. Other wine estates were originally farms owned by monasteries, some of which are still active. ‘Visit Lagrasse,’ a young vigneronne urges, referring to a village so entrancing that it is classified among France’s most beautiful. ‘You should see the monks. They’re all young and gorgeous!’