Set on a hillside in the heart of the Limouxin vineyards, Magrie combines the vineyard landscape at the foot of the Pyrenees with a circular village center, picturesque streets and a Romanesque church. Trails to the vineyard cabins and an annual art exhibition complete the picture. This lets you explore the landscape, local produce and history as distinct highlights of a stay.
Vineyards and regional wines
The vineyards of Magrie are shaped by remarkable sunshine, a distinctive landscape setting and a unique terroir at the foot of the Pyrenees. They produce Crémant and Blanquette de Limoux with AOC status, as well as white and red wines. Here, landscape and produce go hand in hand: viticulture shapes the surroundings and also gives rise to these wines. If you are interested in regional wine culture, you can understand Magrie through this connection between terroir and products, alongside the village’s history and the trails to the vineyard cabins.
Trails and vineyard cabins
The Chemin de Cabanes is a circular route of about five kilometers that can be covered on foot, by bicycle or on horseback. The Chemin des Cabanes is a five-kilometer hike at the foot of Pic de Brau. Along the way, you can discover vineyard cabins; the trail winds around the bed of the Corneilla River.
In the Vallée de la Corneilla, winegrowers from Magrie and Cournanel have restored stone vineyard cabins, each measuring about nine square meters; further cabins are restored regularly. The restored cabins are called “Cathédrales de vignes” (“vineyard cathedrals”) and are cared for by the Association Entre Magrie et Cournanel. The nickname connects the buildings with the vineyard landscape. Their approximate area also gives them a tangible scale. The trails bring together landscape views and small stone structures restored by winegrowers from both villages.
Village center and medieval traces
The Boucle de Magrie leads back to Magrie. The village center is laid out in a circle; picturesque streets and the Romanesque church of Saint-Julien-et-Sainte-Basilisse are among the defining features of the place. Part of the church’s architecture bears witness to the presence of the Hospitallers of the Order of Saint John.
The viscounts Guillaume d’Alaigne and Roger de Béziers granted the lands of Magrie to the Templars and the Hospitallers of the Order of Saint John. Under their auspices, Magrie became a Hospitaller commandery in 1186. A ruined hamlet also lies along the Boucle de Magrie; its origins date back to the Middle Ages. While the commandery is associated with the year 1186, the hamlet is generally considered to be medieval in origin. The church, village layout and hamlet thus offer different ways to explore the history of the place.
Art at the end of the grape harvest
L’Art s’invite à Magrie takes place every year at the end of the grape harvest as a multidisciplinary art exhibition. Residents open their cellars and garages, and community spaces are also used to turn Magrie into an open-air gallery. The venues may vary from one edition to the next. If you would like to plan your stay around the event, check the dates for the relevant edition.
Discover more destinations: Castans, Mazerolles-du-Razès, Douzens, Roquefort-De-Sault, Paziols, Rennes-Les-Bains, Sigean, Lavalette.
Return to the main travel overview: Aude.
