Small wineries and vineyards around Carcassonne, often lack the infrastructure to receive tourists year round. This post will attempt to list some of the wineries that are well-known in the area for receiving visitors regularly.
If you’d like to visit a particular estate (eg your favorite producer), it’s often a good idea to call ahead of time to make sure the winemaker is available to receive you and taste through some wines. But if you’re fine visiting a winery you’re unfamiliar with, here is a list of folks open to last minute visitors.
Wineries really near to Carcassonne:
O’Vineyards – Directions from the castle – This is my family vineyard and we’re generally happy to receive people year round. It’s always best to call before hand because we are a working vineyard and could be busy. It’s convenient to book one of our wine & food experience on our detailed website . We receive dozens of last minute visitors each year. Visiting us is fun because you’ll actually hang out with the winemakers. We’re also native English speakers and we enjoy sharing with people who know very little about wine. So don’t be intimidated!
885 Avenue de la Montagne Noire
11620 Villemoustaussou
33 (0)6 30 18 99 10
Chateau Pennautier – Directions from the castle – A prestigious estate north of Carcassonne that has a tour of the chateau as well as wine tastings. They have staff dedicated to these tour groups so you can show up without any reservations.
2 boulevard Pasteur
11610 Pennautier
33 (0)4 68 72 65 29 ?
Wineries closer to Narbonne:
L’Hospitalet – This is a bit farther away in La Clape (by Narbonne), and it’s a bit more of a gift shop tour. But what’s cool is that it unites wines from all of Gerard Bertrand’s properties in the Languedoc Roussillon. So in one place, you’ll get to taste wines from lots of different parts of the region. And Narbonne might be worth a day trip anyway.
Route de Narbonne plage
20409 11104 NARBONNE
33 (0) 4 68 45 28 50
resa@gerard-bertrand.com
Le Bouis – This one is near Narbonne too and has a cool restaurant. It’s technically in the Corbieres but it’s not lost in the mountains to the south. It’s in Gruissan, really close to the coast and makes an easy addition to a Narbonne day trip. You might also consider seeing the salt flats in Gruissan after visiting the winery.
Route Bleue
11430 Gruissan
33 (0)4 68 75 25 25
Wineries in the mountains of the Corbieres
Driving to these wineries will take some time as they are in the mountains (see map of corbieres wineries). But this can be a gorgeous road trip. Avoid the motorway and take the small mountain roads. But don’t drink too much or you won’t be able to drive back! 😀
Embres & Castelmaure – This cooperative winery has some great wines and display them at the gift shop. You can do the tasting for free but they only do winery tours if you make a reservation.
4, route des canelles
11360 Embres & Castelmaure
33 (0)4 68 45 91 83
Mont Tauch – Same deal. A great cooperative winery where you can taste the wines for free, but winery tours must be booked ahead of time and are generally reserved for larger groups.
Les Vignerons Du Mont Tauch
11350 Tuchan
33 (0)4 68 45 41 08
I’ve written about a few other cool wineries in the Corbieres, but you might have to call ahead for some of them.