Key facts
Located in subregion/area: Côte des Blancs / Sézannais
Vineyards and grape varieties: 108.7 hectares (268.6 acres), of which 94% Chardonnay, 5% Pinot Noir, and 0.6% Pinot Meunier.
Classification: “Autre cru” (87% and 85%).
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. The red-black dashed linje is the departemental borders between Marne (where Montgenost is located), Aube (where Villenauxe-la-Grande is located), and Seine-et-Marne (where Louan-Villegruis-Fontaine is located).
Google Maps view with the villages in the Sézannais 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: Bethon
West: Villenauxe-la-Grande
Comment: some of the communes on the map are not part of the Champagne appellation and therefore don’t have any village profiles.
The village
Montgenost is located in the southwestern part of the Sézannais area, in the Marne department on the border to Aube. As seen from Sézanne, the central town, Montgenost is the second last village of the area. den näst sista byn i området.
The Montgenost commune covers 840 hectares and has 163 inhabitants (as of 2014), referred to as Montgenostiers and Montgenostière.
Vineyards
The vineyards in the Montgenost commune are located around the village, to the north and west. The vineyards are continuous with those in Bethon to the northeast and with those in Villenauxe-la-Grande to the west. They are mostly situated on mild south- to south-facing slopes. Chardonnay is the most common grape variety, by a wide margin.
The current vineyard surface in the Montgenost commune is 108.7 hectares (268.6 acres). There are 102.2 ha Chardonnay (94.0%), 5.8 ha Pinot Noir (5.3%), and 0.7 ha Pinot Meunier (0.6%). Numbers from CIVC, as of 2013. In 1997, the vineyard surface was 101 hectares. There are 92 vineyard owners (exploitants) in the commune.
Higher rating for Chardonnay
On the now defunct échelle des crus scale, where 100% = grand cru, 90-99% = premier cru, and 80-89% = ”autre cru”, a smaller number of villages were rated differently for white and black grapes, i.e., for Chardonnay (white) and for Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier (black). The 12 villages in the Sézannais, including Montgenost, were among these, with 87% for white grapes and 85% for black grapes, which in both cases meant ”autre cru”.
Vineyards in Montgenost. The two condensation towers in the background belong to a nuclear power plant in Nogent-sur-Seine, to the southwest. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo Gilles Guillamot, 2012).
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.
- Benoît Cocteaux (RM, Facebook page), a member of Vignerons Indépendants and the small grower organisation SECRAIE with about 8 ha vingårdar in Montgenost, Villenauxe-la-Grande, Verpillères-sur-Ource (Barséquanais), and Cerseuil (Valle de la Marne) with about 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir as well as a small amount of Pinot Meunier. Seigneur Génod is a vintage blanc de blancs. The producer used to be called Michel Cocteaux.
- Jacques Copinet (RM), a member of Vignerons Indépendants and the small grower organisation SECRAIE. There is a close connection to Marie Copinet in Villenauxe-la-Grande, which either was created by splitting off or a name change. Therefore, I’m not certain is Jacques Copinet still exists or not. Information about vineyard surface for Jacques Copinet varies: 13 ha with 70% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Noir, and 10% Pinot Meunier, or 3 ha with 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir. Marie Etienne is a vintage blanc de blancs. Also sells Champagnes under the brand:
- Jean Larrey.
- Hubert Thiébault (RC, Facebook page), has 4.7 ha of vineyards in Montgenost, Villenauxe-la-Grande, Vertus, and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. Eugène Thiébault is a non-vintage blanc de blancs. André Lemaire is a vintage Champagne composed of 51% Pinot Noir and 49% Chardonnay (refers to the 2008 vintage). Below pictures from the 2015 harvest:
Comment: the list may be incomplete.
Links
- Wikipedia about this village in Swedish, in English, in French.
- The Montgenost doesn’t have a website.
- UMC’s village profile of Montgenost.
- The Swedish version of this post.
© Tomas Eriksson 2017, last update 2017-05-13
Tomas's wine blog 