The Minervois today, is not an administrative entity. It cuts across two French ´Départements´ : the Aude and the Hérault, and encompasses 75 communes, a 'commune' being the smallest administrative entity in France, equivalent to a village or small town.

Sketch maps are provided to help you situate these communes within the territory

The Minervois is largely associated today in many people's minds with the area in which the wines of the appellation AOC Minervois are made. Further information is available on the different 'terroirs' existing within even the relatively small area of the Minervois, each one providing its unique qualities to the wine. But that is only part of the story.

Even within the Minervois of today, there are fourteen communes which do not appear in the list of communes attached to the AOC.

Today, the Minervois is not an administrative region of France. The old names have been resurrected to be largely associated with AOC regions for the promotion of regional products, wine in the main, and for the promotion of tourism. In this respect, some of the communities formerly in the Minervois have 'changed hands' and are now considered as part of the Corbieres, our neighbours to the south.

It is true that modern day administrative areas have little appeal as such to tourists who are more interested in the nostalgic associations of present day places with historic events. Those associations are all the more meaningful when the old names are maintained. The Minervois is also re-orienting itself towards tourism, the ever increasing industry of the late XX century but as yet, the Minervois remains relatively undiscovered and free of the entrepreneurial successes which have spoiled much of the Mediterranean coastline. The inhabitants of the Minervois are trying hard to ensure that the needs of tourism do not impact adversely on the traditional ways.

There is already pretty well everything that the visitor needs for his day to day comfort. Places to stay cover the whole range from hotels through to bed and breakfast facilities. Some of the nicest are the gites in rural settings often remote from passing traffic and yet accessible without difficulty. Places to eat are numerous, especially in summer, and of generally high quality. In winter, fewer restaurants remain open and some of these only work at weekends but the choice is still good and will improve with the growing realisation that tourism is a year round affair.