Gigondas - Saint-Cosme et Saint-Damien

Gigondas (pop. 550) lies in between Vacqueyras and Sablet at the foot of the Dentelles de Montmirail mountains. All three villages are well known for the excellent red wines. These wines are little brothers of the wines from Châteauneuf-du-Pape, about 20kms southwest. During holiday times the village is a meeting place for wine lovers - and it can get pretty crowded.

Just north of Gigondas, near a road that once lead over the Dentelles de Montmirail (and now ends on a parking lot), this church was erected within the 12th century. It replaced a church that was already known in the 8th century.

The nave got destroyed during the French Wars of Religion in the 16th century. The "new" nave, once the transept, was created a century later. The three apses of the 12th century church survived.