Moulin de Ciffre

In and around the village are a large number of wine domains. An attractive short drive or moderate walk away are Chateau Moulin de Ciffre and Chateau Coujan, the former in both the Faugeres and St. Chinian appellations and the latter in St. Chinian.

Just over 1 km west of the Villa, Chateau Moulin de Ciffre is a former mill on the local stream, the upper part of the River Taurou. There is a pleasant easy walk past this domain and then back to the far side of the village. Chateau Coujan is a little further, about 2 hours to walk there and back but just 15 minutes by car. It is well worth a visit and an excellent winery at which to do a tasting as they have a good range of high quality wines.

Chateau de Grezan

A couple of kilometres in the other direction is Chateau Grezan. The Chateau was built in 1824 during the height of the golden age for Languedoc wines as a reconstruction of a fort of the Knights Templar, who owned the Chateau in the 12th century. The Chateau is known as the “Petite  Carcassone”, being in the same style as that renowned city.

As well as being the site of one of the area’s top wine domains, the owners of the main Chateau run it as an arts and cultural centre. The winery is well worth a visit, as well as a range of good wines it’s an opportunity to sneak a peek inside the chateau. Don’t forget to drive past and view it from the other side as well, it’s very impressive.

A number of the surrounding villages are “circulades”, villages built on small knolls in a circular pattern, usuallly around a church at the top. These are great to visit but don’t try to take your car in to the centre. In fact that is true of a lot of the villages around here, they weren’t really built with cars in mind!