Castelnau-d'Aude (; ) is a commune in the

Aude Aude ( ; ) is a Departments of France, department in Southern France, located in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region and named after the river Aude (river), Aude. The departmental council also calls it " ...

department in southern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Location

The village is equidistant between the cities of

Carcassonne Carcassonne is a French defensive wall, fortified city in the Departments of France, department of Aude, Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. It is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the department. ...

and

Narbonne Narbonne ( , , ; ; ; Late Latin:) is a commune in Southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and was ...

in the shadow of the Black Mountains and surrounded by vineyards. A rural paradise, the village remains undiscovered by many from outside the region.

Winemaking

The production of wine has gone on in this area of France for centuries, and the village is surrounded by a fantastic vista of grape vines which positively glow in the extraordinary golden light for which this region is famed. Castelnau is gifted with a fine winemaking family, Roland and Anne-Marie Coustal, who make wine under the name Terres Georges. The moderate scale of production allows the entire process to be undertaken by hand. Many of the wines from this cave have won awards at the major European French wine festivals. The cave is open to the public for tasting sessions with the winemakers on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

Population

Facilities

For a village of its size, the community is relatively well equipped. Castelnau has some basic facilities including a Mayors office, small Post-office, shop, rugby field, petanque pitch, tennis courts and a beautiful small church.

References

Images