Champagne village profile: Beaumont-sur-Vesle, a grand cru village in the Grande Montage de Reims

Key facts

Located in: Montagne & Val de Reims: Grande Montagne de Reims
Vineyards and grape varieties: 28.2 hectares (69.7 acres), of which 84% Pinot Noir, 15% Chardonnay, and 1% Pinot Meunier.
Classification: Grand cru (100%)
Noted for: Pinot Noir from grand cru-classified vineyards.

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 including Beaumont-sur-Vesle are in green, the premier cru villages are in yellow, and the autre cru villages in orange. The Perle blanche ares is shown as a light green box.

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

Neighbouring villages

Northwest: Sillery (grand cru)
West: Verzenay (grand cru)
South: Verzy (grand cru)

The village

The church of Beaumont-sur-Vesle. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo G.Garitan, 2012).

The Beaumont-sur-Vesle village is not located in the middle of the vineyards as Verzenay or Verzy, but on the other side of the A4 highway as seen from the Montagne de Reims hill, i.e., further away from the hillside than many other Champagne villages.

The Beaumont-sur-Vesle commune has a surface of 569 hectares and counts 731 inhabitants (as of 2013) called Belmontois and Belmontoises.

Vineyards

The vineyards are located in the southwestern part of the commune and are a continuation of those in Verzy, with the same classification (grand cru). Most of those that own vineyards in Beaumont-sur-Vesle have their production in other villages.

The current vineyard surface in the Beaumont-sur-Vesle commune is 28.2 hectares (69.7 acres). There are 23.7 ha Pinot Noir (84.0%), 4.1 ha Chardonnay (14.5%), 0.3 ha Pinot Meunier (1.1%), and 0.1 ha others (0.4%). Numbers from CIVC, as of 2013. In 1997, the vineyard surface was 28 ha. There are 38 vineyard owners (exploitants) in the commune.

Single vineyard sites

• Clos Virgile, a wall-enclosed site of 0.24 ha that used to be used as an orchard and that was planted as a vineyard in 1993. This vineyard is owned by the Portier family, that named it after Virgile Portier. Paul-Sadi produces a vineyard-designated Champagne from this site, composed of 67% Chardonnay and 33% Pinot Noir. Clos Virgile was formerly produced by Virgile Portier.

Champagne producers

Champagne houses/négociants

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.

• Paul-Sadi (NM), a small Champagne house with vineyards in Beaumont-sur-Vesle, Verzy, and Villers-Marmery. A family connection exists to Virgile Portier (see below) and to Sadi Malot in Villers-Marmery. Some of the Champagnes are oak barrel-vinified. The range includes Clos Virgile, a vineyard-designated vintage Champagne composed of 67% Chardonnay and 33% Pinot Noir (refers to the 2012 vintage), that is vinified in one large oak vat.
  History
  Jerôme Portier, who is the son of Jean-Louis Portier, has named the négociant company for his two grandfathers Paul Portier and Sadi Malot.

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.

• Virigile Portier (RM), has 8 ha of vineyards according to information from the early 2000s. A family connection to Paul-Sadi exists, see above.
  History
  Virigile Portier launched his own Champagnes in 1924. His son Paul took over in 1962 together with his sister. Paul’s son Jean-Louis took over in 1986, together with other members of the family.
• Joël Vautier (RC)

Comment: This list may not be complete.

Links

• Wikipedia about this village in English, in French.
• Website of the Beaumont-sur-Vesle commune.
• UMC’s new village profile of Beaumont-sur-Vesle.
• UMC’s old village profile of Beaumont-sur-Vesle. (dead link)
• Vineyard map of Beaumont-sur-Vesle at weinlagen-info.de
• The Swedish version of this post.

© Tomas Eriksson 2014-2016, last updated 2016-04-10