Champagne village profile: Sermiers in the northwestern part of Montagne de Reims

Key facts

Located in: Montagne & Val de Reims: Vesle et Ardre
Vineyards and grape varieties: 167.1 hectares (412.9 acres), of which 69% Pinot Meunier, 22% Pinot Noir, 5.3% Chardonnay, and 3.6% others
Classification: Premier cru (90%)

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 is other open terrain, and green indicates forest.

Google Maps view with the villages in the Vesle et Ardre highlighted. The premier cru villages are in yellow and the autre cru villages are in orange. The La Petite Montagne de Reims part, where Sermiers is located, is shown within red borders and the Vallée de la Vesle part within green borders.

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

Neighbouring villages

East: Villers-Allerand (premier cru, part of the Grande Montagne de Reims)
Southwest: Courtagnon
West: Chamery (premier cru)
North: Villers-aux-Nœuds (premier cru)

View of Sermiers from higher up the slope, with Reims in the background. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo G.Garitan, 2012).

The village

The Sermiers commune covers 1823 hectares (4505 acres) and has 536 inhabitants (as of 2013), referred to as Sarmates.

The built-up area of the commune does not consist of one single village, but instead the five nearby villages Sermiers (in the centre of the commune), Nogent (also written Nogent-Sermiers as a postal address, to the west), Montaneuf (southwest), Courtaumont (southeast), Le Petit Fleury (east), and La Bastille (east).

Sermiers is located on the northern side of the Montagne de Reims, but just west of the D951 road from Reims to Épernay, in similarity to its neighbour further down the slope,  Villers-aux-Nœuds. Those two villages, and all of the villages further to the west along the slope, are therefore (somewhat arbitrarily) not counted as part of the Grande Montagne de Reims, bur rather as part of the more spread-out area around the rivers Vesle and Ardre. The area along the slope, to which Sermiers belong, is sometimes called  ”La Petite Montagne de Reims”. One commune to the east, Villers-Allerand (which is traversed by the D951 road), we’re in the Grande Montagne de Reims rather than in the “Petite” part.

The town hall (Mairie) of Sermiers. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo Garitan, 2013).

Vineyards

Vineyards at the Nogent part of Sermiers (where the cross is located) with Reims visible in the background. Thevineyard site just behind the cross is Les Terres du Clos. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo G.Garitan, 2013).

The vineyards consist of mostly north-facing slopes on the Montagne de Reims, and are dominated by Pinot Meunier.

The current vineyard surface in the Sermiers commune is 167.1 hectares (412.9 acres), distributed over 71 vineyard owners (exploitants). There are 115.6 ha Pinot Meunier (69.2%), 36.7 ha Pinot Noir (22.0%), 8.8 ha Chardonnay (5.3%), and 6.0 ha others (3.6%). Numbers from CIVC, as of 2013. In 1997, the vineyard surface was 160 ha.

The premier cru classification

Sermiers was elevated from 89% to 90% on the échelle des crus some time before this scale was retired, and thus became a premier cru village. This probably happened at the same time Vrigny and Coulommes-la-Montagne were likewise promoted, which was in the end of the 1990s or early 2000s. I have not yet found the specific year.

Single vineyard sites

Single vineyard sites in Sermiers include the following, among others:

• Les Clos, a flat site in the western part of the commune, just north of Montaneuf. No vineyard wall.
• Le Clos de Saint-Symphorien, an east-facing site with a mild slope in the western part of the commune, directly at Nogent. Located east of the D22 road, south of D26, and with one corner at the intersection D22/D26. Borders in the north, across D26, to Les Terres du Clos. No vineyard wall.
• Les Terres du Clos, an east-facing site with a mild slope in the western part of the commune, directly at Nogent. Located north of the D26 road with one corner at the intersection D22/D26. Borders in the north, across D26, to Le Clos de Saint-Symphorien. No vineyard wall. See also the picture above!

Champagne producers

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.

• J-Marie Ducoissy (RC)
• Edmont Husson (RC)
• Flamand Père et Fille
• René Fresne (RM), has just under 8.5 ha of vineyards.
• Froment-Griffon (RC), has 6.65 ha of vineyards in Sermiers, Chamery, Villers-Allerand, and Gueux. Cuvée Alexiana is an oak barrel-vinfied 100% Chardonnay. Vindémia is a vintage Champagne composed of 75% Chardonnay and 25% Pinot Noir (refers to the 2004 vintage).
• Claude Georgeton (RC) med företagsnamnet Georgeton-Moroy et Fils.
• Roland Hanon
• Lacuisse Frères (RC), has 17 ha of vineyards in Sermiers with 70% Pinot Meunier, 15% Pinot Noir, and 15% Chardonnay. The regular vintage Champagne is composed of 1/3 each of Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, and Pinot Noir (refers to the 2008 vintage). Cuvée Cosson is a vintage Champagne without dosage composed of 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir (refers to the 2006 vintage).
• Manceaux-Talbot (RC), see also the video below.
• Didier Martinet (RC)
• Martinet-Lopez Père et Fils (RC), not to be confused with Lopez-Martinet in Hautvillers.
• Christian Patis (RM) also Ch. Patis, member of Vignerons Indépendants with vineyards in Courtagnon and Sermiers. The range includes a vintage Champagne.
• Alexandre Rat (RC)
• Jean Rat-Winkler (RC), has 6 ha of vineyards with 4 ha Pinot Meunier, 1.5 ha Chardonnay, and 0.5 ha Pinot Noir. The range includes a vintage Champagne.

Comment: The list may be incomplete.

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 de Sermiers is a cooperative in Sermiers, founded in 1960, with 120 members having 112 ha of vineyards, with a majority of Pinot Meunier. It is one of the 82 cooperatives that are members of the huge cooperative Centre Vinicole Champagne-Nicolas Feuillatte (CVC-NF), which has its main facility in Chouilly.

Video clip

Below a video clip that shows pruning of the vines at Manceaux-Talbot in Sermiers. French audio without subtitles.

Links

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

© Tomas Eriksson 2014-2016, last update 2016-08-06