Saint-Victor
- Albas
- Limestone landscapes
If you want to capture the essence of the Corbières, climb (either on foot or by car) to the Hermitage of Saint-Victor. The all-encompassing view is simply stunning: miles of deserted garrigue, the hillcrests dotted with castles, the Mediterranean at Port-La Nouvelle visible on one side and the distant Pic du Canigou on the other. At 420m (1400 ft), this is the highest point for miles around (so with eminent practicality but scant regard for aesthetics, a television tower has been plonked on top of it).
It is said that the tiny chapel, now half-ruined and serving as a shelter for electrical equipment, was kept by dissident monks from Fontfroide. (Despite what it says on the orienteering panel, Fontfroide is not visible from here — it’s the Château de St-Martin de Toques, on a crest above the abbey, that you can see.) It is hard to believe that anyone could have survived on this windswept peak all the year round.
- Hermitage de Saint-Victor
Villages — and indeed roads — are few and far between in this large terroir. Each village seems isolated in its own fold of the hills, surrounded by a few fields of hardy vines. They say that vines have to suffer to produce good wine, and the ones up here, battered by the wind and baked by the sun, certainly have a hard time. The wines from here are dark and intense, spicy with the scents of the garrigue. When driving, keep the petrol tank full, and your eyes on the bends of the precipitous roads — and stop every now and then to admire the fantastic rock formations such as those around the village of Albas.
There are some more worldly surprises here, though. In the village of Fontjoncouse is a restaurant run by a Michelin-starred chef, Gilles Goujon, serving food which is amazingly refined and elegant while still bursting with the local flavours of tomato, olive oil, goats’ cheese, thyme ... definitely worth the trip along miles of winding road.