Champagne village profile: Bligny, on top of the Montagne de Reims

 

Key facts

Located in: Montagne & Val de Reims: Vesle et Ardre
Vineyards and grape varieties: 5.3 ha (13.6 acres), of which 85% Pinot Meunier and 15% Pinot Noir.
Classification: “Autre cru” (83%)
Risk of confusion: there is also a Champagne village called Bligny in the Bar-sur-Aubois area, in the Aube department. Bligny in the Vesle et Ardre area, the subject of this profile, is located in the Marne department, and it is the smaller of the two.

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 shown in yellow and the autre cru villages, including Bligny, are in orange. The La Petite Montagne de Reims part 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

North: Aubilly
Northeast: Saint-Euphraise-et-Clairizet
East: Bouilly
South: Chaumuzy
Westsouthwest: Chambrecy
Northwest: Sarcy

View of Bligny. The vineyards in the background are however located in other villages, primarily Sarcy (those in the right-hand half of the picture). Picture linked form Wikimedia Commons (photo G.Garitan, 2011).

The village

Bligny is located on top of the Montagne de Reims hill, along the Ardre river, in the Marne department. The Bligny commune covers 259 hectares and has 124 inhabitants (as of 2015).

Three military cemeteries with soldiers fallen in World War I are located in the vicinity of Bligny: one French – Nécropole Nationale, one Italian and one German. (Actually, these cemeteries are located in the Chambrecy commune, just across the border from the Bligny commune, but they all are named “Bligny”.)

The Italian military cemetery in Bligny. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo Garitan, 2012).

Vineyards

The vineyards in Bligny is located in the eastern part of the commune, and consist of mild west-facing slopes dominated by Pinot Meunier.

The current vineyard surface in the Bligny commune is 5.5 hectares (13.6 acres). There are 4.7 ha Pinot Meunier (85.5%) and 0.8 ha Pinot Noir (14.5%). Current information from CIVC as of 2018, refers to the situation a few years earlier. In 1997, the vineyard surface was 6 ha. There are 14 vineyard owners (exploitants) in the commune.

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.

• Briffoteaux-Bédaghe
• Mercelot (RC), the range of which includes a vintage Champagne. The company name is Philippe Mercelot.

Comment: It is not certain that the list is complete.

The town hall (mairie) of Bligny. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (foto Garitan, 2012).

Links

• Wikipedia about this village in English, in French.
• The Bligny commune doesn’t have a website.
• UMC’s new village profile of Bligny
• Vineyard map of Bligny at weinlagen-info.de.
• The Swedish version of this post.

© Tomas Eriksson 2014-2018, last update 2018-12-30