Champagne village profile of Vaudemange, a premier cru village in Grande Montagne de Reims

Key facts

Located in: Montagne & Val de Reims: Grande Montagne de Reims
Vineyards and grape varieties: 46.3 hectares (114.4 acres), of which 63% Chardonnay and 37% Pinot Noir.
Classification: Premier cru (95%)
Noted for: Chardonnay dominance in an otherwise Pinot Noir-dominated area.

Maps

The map is linked from Wikimedia Commons, and the geographical information originates from OpenStreetMap. The dotted white area corresponds to the vineyards, light yellow indicates other open terrain, and green indicates forest.

Google Maps view with the villages in the Grande Montagne de Reims highlighted. The grand cru villages are in green, the premier cru villages are in yellow, and the autre cru villages in orange. The light green box shows the Perle blanche area.

Clicking on a village opens a field to the left with a link to the village profile.

Neighbouring villages

Westsouthwest: Ambonnay (grand cru)
Northwest: Trépail (premier cru)
North: Billy-le-Grand (premier cru)

The church of Vaudemange. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo G.Garitan, 2014).

The village

Vaudemange is located just below the southeastern part of the Montagne de Reims hill.

The Vaudemange commune covers a total surface of 1312 hectares and counts 299 inhabitants (as of 2013), called Vaudemangeois and Vaudemangeoises.

Vineyards

The vineyards are located in the northwestern part of the village, in a block continuous with the vineyards in Billy-le-Grand. They consist of mild eastern slopes just below the real Montagne de Reims slope, and contain mostly Chardonnay. Vaudemange shares the Chardonnay dominance with three other villages on the eastern side on the Montagne de Reims: its neighbours Trépail and Billy-le-Grand, as well as Villers-Marmery just beyond these two. This area is sometimes called Perle blanche.

The current vineyard surface in the Vaudemange commune is 46.3 hectares (114.4 acres). There are 29 ha Chardonnay (62.6%) and 6.1 ha Pinot Noir (37.4%). Numbers from CIVC, as of 2013. In 1997, the vineyard surface was 34 ha. There are 42 vineyard owners (exploitants) in the commune.

Champagne houses that control vineyards in the village include Mumm.

Single vineyard sites

• Les Gouas, a site north of the village itself, on the border to Billy-le-Grand.

Champagne producers

Champagne growers

The producer status NM = négociant-manipulant means that purchased grapes can be included in the Champagnes. NM producers can be anything from small producers that supplement their own grapes with some that they buy in, to large Champagne houses that primarily rely on purchased grapes.

• Chaudron (NM) has its main seat in Verzenay, but also has production in Vaudemange.

Champagne growers

Producer status is indicated where known: RM = récoltant-manipulant, or grower-producers. RC = récoltant-coopérateur, growers that are cooperative members but sell Champagnes under their own name.

• Brognion et Fils (possibly the same as the next one)
• Romuald Brognion (RM), which judging from the addresses seems to be the same producer as Gérard Brognion. Has 7 ha of vineyards and an annual production of about 15 000 bottles. Vieilles Vignes is a vintage Champagne from 1/3 each of Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, and Pinot Noir from old vines.
• Conrad Cher (RC)
• Christophe Dedet (RC)
• Boris Fauvet (RM), has 2.65 ha of vineyards in Ambonnay, Bouzy, and Vaudemange. The vintage Champagne is composed of 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay.
• Philippe Francart (RM)
• Philippe Hautem (RM), member of Vignerons Indépendants with 6 ha of vineyards composed of 90% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot Noir.
• Pascal Jean (RM)
• Didier Lapie (RC), has vineyards in Billy-le-Grand, Vaudemange, Chouilly, Pierry (just south of Épernay) and Bassuet (in Vitryat). Vieilles Vignes is a vintage Champagne composed of Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, and Pinot Noir from old vines.
• Pascal Machet (RC), whose vintage Champagne is composed of 1/3 each of Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, and Pinot Noir.
• Moncuit-Valentin (RC)
• Pascal Padovani (RM, Facebook page), whose range includes a vintage Champagne.
• René Rochet
• Rochet-Bocart (RM, Facebook page), member of Vignerons Indépendants with 6.2 ha of vineyards, of which 80% Chardonnay.
• Rochet Ternacle

Comment: The list is possibly not complete.

Cooperative

When bottles are sold directly by a cooperative the producer status is given as CM = coopérative de manipulation, as opposed to RC when sold by a cooperative member under their own name.

•  Coopérative Vinicole (the company is called Société Coopérative Agricole Vinicole de Vaudemange et Billy-le-Grand), has 202 members with 210 ha of vineyards. Doesn’t seem to have a website. It is one of the cooperatives that are members of the huge cooperative Centre Vinicole Champagne-Nicolas Feuillatte (CVC-NF), with its main facilites in Chouilly.

The cooperative in Vaudemange. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo G.Garitan 2014).

Video clips

A video from the 2013 harvest at the Vaudemange grower Philippe Francart.

Links

• Wikipedia about this village in English, in French.
• Website of the Vaudemange commune.
  • List of Champagne producers.
• UMC’s new village profile of Vaudemange.
• UMC’s old village profile of Vaudemange. (dead link)
• The Swedish version of this post.

© Tomas Eriksson 2014-2016, last update 2016-07-19