Champagne village profile: Arcis-le-Ponsart on top of the Montagne de Reims

Key facts

Located in: Montagne & Val de Reims: Vesle et Ardre
Vineyards and grape varieties: 22.2 hectares (54.9 acres), of which 86% Pinot Meunier, 12% Pinot Noir, and 1% Chardonnay.
Classification: “Autre cru” (82%)

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. The red dashed border is the departemental border between Marne (where Arcis-le-Ponsart is located) and Aisne.

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 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: Courville
Northeast: Crugny
East: Brouillet
Southeast: Lagery
Comment: Arcis-le-Ponsart is located in the outskirts of the Champagne appellation, so some of the neighbouring villages visible on the map are not included in the list above, since they are not Champagne villages and therefore will not be profiled.

The church of Arcis-le-Ponsart, Église Notre-Dame. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo GO69, 2011).

The village

The town hall (mairie) in Arcis-le-Ponsart, in this case combined with a school building. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo Markus3, 2009)

Arcis-le-Ponsart is located on top of the northwestern part of the Montagne de Reims hill.

In the southern part of the commune (at Igny), there is an active Cistercian abbey called Abbaye Notre-Dame d’Igny, founded in 1127 and that received its first monks in 1128, sent out by none the less than Bernard de Clairvaux from their mother abbey in Cîteaux, Burgundy. Since the 1930s, it is a nunnery.

The Arcis-le-Ponsart commune covers 1543 hectares and has 287 inhabitants (as of 2012).

Vineyards

The vineyards of Arcis-le-Ponsart are located northeast of the village itself and consists of mild west-facing slopes that are dominated by Pinot Meunier.

The current vineyard surface in the Arcis-le-Ponsart commune is 22.2 hectares (54.9 acres). There are 19.1 ha Pinot Meunier (86.0%), 2.8 ha Pinot Noir (12.6%), 0.2 ha Chardonnay (0.9%), and 0.1 ha other. Numbers from CIVC, as of 2013. In 1997, the vineyard surface was 19 ha. There are 6 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.

• Noël Mondet (RC)

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

A postcard of Arcis-le-Ponsart at the beginning of the 20th century. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (uploaded by G.Garitan).

Video clips

A short video clip of the nunnery at Igny.

Below a video where the nun’s chocolate production is shown. Champagne cork-shaped pralines, something of a regional speciality, are also produced at the nunnery. Monks or nuns, all Cistercians follow the motto ora et labora – pray and work. They usually run some sort of artisanal or agricultural production at their monasteries to raise the income they need to keep the respective monastery running, and sometimes to finance some additional charity.

Links

• Wikipedia about this village in English, in French.
• Website of the Arcis-le-Ponsart commune.
• UMC’s new village profile of Arcis-le-Ponsart.
• UMC’s old village profile of Arcis-le-Ponsart. (dead link)
• Swedish version of this post.

© Tomas Eriksson 2015, last update 2016-08-27