Located at the southeast end of the department of the Loire, 50 km from Lyon, Saint-Etienne and Valencia Chavanay extends over an area of 1506 hectares and includes three lands at altitudes of 140-450 meters: the alluvial plain of the Rhône, facing the hillsides and is notched valleys to the Mediterranean fauna, and finally the shelf. The river stop, its role is to connect the Rhone to Pilat, and can accommodate large cruise ships but also sailors.
In Gallo-Roman (Cabannacus), the village was in the Middle Ages the seat of a lordship, and that time has kept the circular organization of his town, the remains of towers, mullioned windows and alleyways tortuous. In the nineteenth century, it has spread to Luzin, the area of the station, and got a bridge over the Rhone.
Chavanay is located on the way to Saint Jacques de Compostela (GR 65 from Austria and Germany and Switzerland, heading the Puy), its stage lodging for 14 people, open since July 2008, welcomes pilgrims every day of the year.
Knowledge and terroirs: Chavanay has the distinction of producing two of the great wines of the northern Rhône coasts: Condrieu made from the Viognier grape variety and the St. Joseph from for white Marsanne and Roussanne and red of Syrah. The cultivated vines on terraces of stone, has very favorable conditions. Some twenty winegrowers are happy to share their passion with host cellars in the village and its many hamlets.
Every second weekend in December, since 1924 held the famous market in wine that combines all the producers in the region, and hosts every year a public increasingly numerous and connoisseurs.
