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The name of PORTEL has its
origins in the ancient latin word "Portelus" (little door), due to
the narrow rocky passage in which the river Berre is flowing through the valley
to the ponds, actually spanned
by the
bridge of Tamaroque.
Built on the maritime
edge, the village is really the geographical entrance of the Corbières mounts,
in the middle of a rich vineyard who gives its name to an excellent
vintage well-known for its behaviour, taste and colour : the
Rocbère wine.
Two masterpieces are mostly
to be discovered in PORTEL DES CORBIERES :
First of all, NOTRE DAME
DES OUBIELS, imposing ruin of a historical monument dated from XIIIth and XIVth
centuries, laying in a idyllic landscape of grapes and olive trees. Easily
reachable by the Canto Perdrix Way, one of the
pedestrian courses of
the village, giving the opportunity to spend pleasant time in the middle of the
wild garrigue dominating the village.
From those heights, it's
now time to go down 80 meters underground, discovering another world : TERRA
VINEA, magic site on the inside of Corbières rocks, where the antic
mediterranean civilisation is revealed. This underground cellar is unique :
built in an ancient gypsum mine, the galleries' visit is as impressive as the quality of wines produced
here.
In that surrealistic
scenery, a Cathedral of Casks, Saint Vincent's day, the patron saint of wine-growers,
is celebrated every year in january.
More than thousand persons are gathering
for this ceremony dedicated to grapes and wine.
This well-known event
cannot be dissociated from the nightly mass taking place in NOTRE DAME DES
OUBIELS each 15th of August.
Those two exceptional
monuments, duly celebrated, are not the only treasures that you will discover
at the Entrance of Corbières :
a Door who's keeping a full of secrets, leaving
nobody insensitive ; a Door that we ask you to open together… |
