With no obvious frontier, there’s a similarity between the wines of Faugères and Saint- Chinian, the former producing rounder, fleshier wines, and the latter, a steelier, more beefy style depending on the terroir. Split by the river Vernazobre with different soils on either bank, the north and west is schist-based, while the south is limestone and clay, producing differing styles. Saint-Chinian became an appellation in its own right in 1982 and three years later was incorporated into the Côteaux du Languedoc.