Champagne village profile: Arrentières in the Bar-sur-Aubois

Key facts

Located in subregion/area: Côte des Bar / Bar-sur-Aubois
Vineyards and grape varieties: 136.8 hectares (338.0 acres), of which 80% Pinot Pinot, 12% Chardonnay, 7% Pinot Meunier, and 0.6% others.
Classification: ”Autre cru” (80%)

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, orange is built-up areas, and green indicates forest.

Google Maps view with the villages in the Bar-sur-Aubois highlighted.

Clicking on a village opens a field to the left with a link to the village profile, if it exists.

Neighbouring villages within the Champagne appellation

Northeast: Engente
East: Colombé-le-Fosse
Southsoutheast: Voigny
Southwest: Bar-sur-Aube
Westsouthwest: Ailleville
West: Montier-en-l’Isle

The village

Coat of arms of the Arrentières commune. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (created by Chatsam, 2009).

Arrentières is located on the right bank of Aube river, about 4 km from the river. In the northern part of the commune, further away from the river, there is some forest and the southern half of the commune we find vineyards and open agricultural land.

In Arrentières, there is a castle by the name Château d’Arrentières.

The Arrentières commune covers 1391 hectares and has 229 inhabitants (as of 2014).

Vineyards

The vineyards in Arrentières are located around the village and in the southern half of the commune. They stretch to the east, southeast, and southwest, in the directions of Engente, Colombé-le-Fosse, and Bar-sur-Aube, all the way to the borders to these villages. The directions of slope vary, but include south-facing slopes. Pinot Noir is the dominating grape variety, by a wide margin.

The current vineyard surface in the Arrentières commune is 136.8 hectares (338.0 acres). There are 109.6 ha Pinot Pinot (80.1%), 16.9 ha Chardonnay (12.4%), 9.5 ha Pinot Meunier (6.9%), and 0.8 ha others (0.6%). Numbers from CIVC, as of 2013. In 1997, the vineyard surface was 116 ha. There are 58 vineyard owners (exploitants) in the commune.

Single vineyard sites

Single vineyard sites in Arrentières include, among others:

• Les Dames Noires, a southsoutheast-facing site to the northeast of the village, close to the border to Engente.

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.

• Boulachin Chaput (NM), has 8 ha of vineyards in Arrentières, Colombé-le-Sec, Colombé-la-Fosse, and Voigny with 60% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, and 10% Pinot Meunier. The regular vintage Champagne is composed of 35% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir, and 30% Pinot Meunier (refers to the 2004 vintage). Carte Noire is a vintage cuvée composed of 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay, Dame Noire is a vintage 100% Pinot Noir from the single vineyard sites Les Dames Noires in Arrentières, and their Rosé de Saignée is also 100% Pinot Noir and vintage designated.
• Jacques Chaput (NM, Facebook page), uses 21 ha of vineyards, of which 14 ha vineyards of their own. They use a salamander on their labels, since this was the symbol used by the 16th century French king Francis I (François Ier). The top cuvée is called Grande Réserve and is composed of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay.

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.P. Baudouin (RM), where J.P. is forstår för Jean-Pierre.
• Roland Beckius (RC)
• Albert Beerens (RM?, Facebook page), a member of Terra Vitis with just over 7 ha of vineyards in Arrentières, Bar-Sur-Aube, Colombé-le-Sec, and Ailleville. The vintage Champagne is composed of 40% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir, and 20% Pinot Meunier (refers to the 2010 vintage). Older labels indicates the producer status as RC and Bar-sur-Aube to be the address.
• Corentin Breton (RM, Facebook page)
• Jacky Breton (RM)
• Stéphane Breton (RM)
• Denis Chaput
• Camille Courteaux (RC), whose range includes a vintage Champagne.
• Dangin
• Dangin-Patrice
• Sylvain Gauthier (RM)
• Gilbert Leseurre (RM), has 7 ha of vineyards with 80% Pinot Noir, 10% Chardonnay, and 10% Pinot Noir. The range includes a vintage Champagne composed of 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay.
• Luna (Facebook page)
• Mennetrier (Facebook page), whose vintage Champagne is often sold at a high age and has a varying composition: 1999 and 2006 is 100% Chardonnay, while 2004 is 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir. Older bottles have the name Jac Mennetrier.
• Nachin-Fortini (Facebook page)
• Florent Phélizot
• Guillaume Phélizot (RC), has 3 ha in Arrentières, Bar-sur-Aube, and Engente, with 70% Pinot Noir, 15% Chardonnay, and 15% Pinot Meunier. The annual production is about 30 000 bottles.

Comment: the list may be incomplete.

Château d’Arrentières. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo Paraphernalia, 2010).

Links

• Wikipedia about this village in English, in French.
  • Wikipedia about Château d’Arrentières in French.
• Website of the Arrentières commune.
• UMC’s village profile of Arrentières.
• The Swedish version of this post.

© Tomas Eriksson 2017, last update 2017-02-08