Champagne village profile: Berru in the Monts de Berru

Key facts

Located in subregion/area: Montagne & Val de Reims / Monts de Berru
Vineyards and grape varieties: 101.4 hectares (250.6 acres), of which 83% Chardonnay, 14% Pinot Meunier, and 3% Pinot Noir.
Classification: “Autre cru” (84%)

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 Monts de Berru highlighted.

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

Neighbouring villages in the Champagne appellation

West: Cernay-lès-Reims
South: Nogent-l’Abbesse
Comment: some of the communes on the map are not part of the Champagne appellation, and therefore they have no village profiles.

The village

The town hall (mairie) in Berru. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo Garitan, 2012).

Berru is located just east of Reims and has (via the hill Mont de Berru) lent its name to the Monts de Berru area.

The Berru commune covers 1365 hectares and has 513 inhabitants (as of 2014) referred to as Berruyats and Berruyates.

In Berru there is a German military cemetery, with soldiers who fell in World War I.

Vineyards

The vineyards in Berru are located around the village, close to the forest-clad hill Mont de Berru which also stretches into the Cernay-lès-Reims and Nogent-l’Abbesse communes. The vineyards are situated on mild slopes of varying direction. The vineyards are dominated by Chardonnay.

The current vineyard surface in the Berru commune is 101.4 hectares (250.6 acres). There are 84.4 ha Chardonnay (83.2%), 14.0 ha Pinot Meunier (13.8%), and 3.0 ha Pinot Noir (3.0%). Numbers from CIVC, as of 2013. In 1997, the vineyard surface was 96 ha. There are 81 vineyard owners (exploitants) in the commune.

The church in Berru, Église Saint-Martin. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo Garitan, 2012).

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. ND = négociant-distributeur, which means that they at least partly sell Champagnes produced by someone else, but under their own name.

• Adam-Jaeger (ND), whose regular range includes two vintage Champagnes: a blanc de blancs and Prestige composed of 61% Chardonnay, 23% Pinot Noir, and 16% Pinot Meunier (refers to the 2008 vintage). Champagnes are also sold under the name Saint German de Crayes, and then only consist of Chardonnay from Berru. This range includes a vintage blanc de blancs.
• Philippe Costa is a Champagne producer which is associated with the wine producer Tenute Costa in Piedmont, Italy. Some of the Champagnes are said to originate from Berru, others from the premier cru village Grauves in the Côte des Blancs. I haven’t been able to figure out the formal producer status.

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.

• Lionel Adam (RC), whose range includes a vintage Champagne.
• Rémi Adam (RC, Facebook page), also Rémi Adam & filles. Estelle Hecht, who in 2014 returned to the family property at 22 years of age, is the poster name of the producer. Belle Boisée is an oak barrel-vinified  vintage blanc de blancs. The older Cuvée Vieilles Vignes and the newly introduced l’Affût are both non-vintage blanc de blancs produced using oak barrel vinification. Also sells Champagnes under the name:
  • B.Liv (Facebook page) which was created by Estelle Hecht together with a female companion.
• Emmanuel Cosnard (RC), also written Cosnard Emmanuel, has 2.4 ha of vineyards in Nogent-l’Abbesse and Berru. The range includes two vintage Champagnes, where both Blanc de Blancs and Millésime are 100% Chardonnay.
• Wilfrid Florent (RC, Facebook page)
• Fourmet-Héry (RC, Facebook page), whose range includes a vintage Champagne and Cuvée Excellence, a non-vintage oak barrel-vinified blanc de blancs.
• Guyot-Plitt (RC)
• Philippe-Garot (RC)
• Jacques Picard (RM), has 17 ha of vineyards in Berru, Avenay-Val-d’Or, and Montbré. Prestige is a vintage Champagne composed of 60% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Meunier, and 20% Pinot Noir (refers to the 2004 vintage). Art de Vigne is an oak barrel-vinified vintage Champagne from older vines composed of 60% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Meunier, and 20% Pinot Noir (refers to the 2003 vintage). Also sells Champagnes under the name:
  • Le Chapitre, where the name is derived from the chapters of the Roman Catholic church due to their historic role in the wine production of the Champagne region. The labels feature a French lily to commemorate the crowning of the French kings in the Reims cathedral.

Comment: the list may be incomplete.

Cooperatives

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.

• Société Coopérative Agricole Vinicole de Berru, also SCAV de Berru, is a cooperative in Berru.

Champagne producers in neighbouring villages

Some producers are located in neighbouring communes, which aren’t part of the production zone where the vineyards may be located. Therefore, there are no village profiles for these, but I chose to list some producers here, by commune:

Witry-lès-Reims

• Boucton-Vettori (RC), which has vineyards in Berru with 80% Chardonnay, 17% Pinot Meunier, and 3% Pinot Noir. The range includes two vintage Champagnes: Cuvée Speciale composed of 60% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir, and 10% Pinot Meunier (refers to the 2010 vintage), and a vintage blanc de blancs.

Comment: the list may be incomplete.

Postcard with a view of Berru around 1912. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons.

Links

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

© Tomas Eriksson 2017, last update 2017-08-19