Photo : John Samuel / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Abbaye de Valmagne
The abbey of Sainte-Marie de Valmagne is at Villeveyrac, in the Hérault. Founded in 1138 by Viscount Raymond Trencavel of Béziers, it joined the Cistercian order in 1145 and became one of the richest abbeys in the south of France, with about 300 monks.
The Gothic church, rebuilt from 1257, is about 83 metres long. The twelfth-century cloister, partly redone in the fourteenth, is adorned with a fountain. Weakened by plague, the Hundred Years' War and the Wars of Religion, the abbey was sold as national property in 1791; the church then served as a wine store, hence its nickname "cathedral of the vines".
The Turenne family has owned it since 1838. Listed as a historic monument in 1997, it has been open to visitors since 1975, with guided tours, tasting cellar and gardens; the estate produces wines on about 75 hectares.
