Champagne village profile: Celles-lès-Condé on the left bank of the Marne valley

Key facts

Located in subregion / area: Vallée de la Marne / Vallée de la Marne Ouest (formerly in the Terroir de Condé)
Vineyards and grape varieties: 40.1 hectares (99.1 acres), of which 59% Pinot Meunier, 29% Pinot Noir, 10% Chardonnay, and 1.2% other grape varieties.
Classification: “Autre cru” (83%)

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 dashed red line in the left-hand part of the map is the departmental border between Aisne (where Celles-lés-Condé is located) and Marne.

Google Maps view with the villages in the Vallée de la Marne Ouest highlighted, as well as some surrounding villages in white.

Clicking on a village opens a field to the left with a link to the village profile, if there is one.

Neighbouring villages

Northeast: Saint-Agnan
Southeast: Baulne-en-Brie (part of the Terroir de Condé)
Northwest: Monthurel
Comment: some of the villages to the southwest are not included in the list above, since they are outside the appellation and therefore will not be profiled.

The entrance from south to Celles-lès-Condé, along the D20 road, from the Condé-en-Brie direction. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo Pascal3012, 2014).

The village

Celles-lès-Condé is located on the left bank of the Marne river, which means south of the river. The village is located at Le Surmelin, a river which flows through the southern part of the Terroir de Condé area, and then empties into the Marne River downstreams at Mézy-Moulins. The stream La Dhuis arrives from the Condé-en-Brie direction and empties into Le Surmelin at Celles-lès-Condé. Celles-lès-Condé is a neighbour of the larger village Condé-en-Brie, which explains the surname “lès-Condé” which is used to differentiate this village from several other villages named Celles.

The Celles-lès-Condé commune covers 391 hectares and has 82 inhabitants (as of 2015). The built-up area in the south of the commune is continuous with Condé-en-Brie.

The Union des Maisons de Champagne used to count Celles-lès-Condé as part of the area Terroir de Condé. This was not very surprising, since the area was named for Condé-en-Brie (which itself isn’t a Champagne village). Around 2017 the borders were adjusted for the areas close to the departmental border between the Marne and Aisne department. Currently, UMC counts Celles-lès-Condé as part of the Vallée de la Marne Ouest, the Western Marne Valley.

The church in Celles-lès-Condé, Église de la Nativité de la Vierge. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo G.Garitan, 2014).

Vineyards

The vineyards in Celles-lès-Condé are gathered in a block in the northern part of the commune and are continuous with those in Monthurel. The vineyards are southwest-facing with Pinot Meunier as the most common grape variety.

The current vineyard surface in the Celles-lès-Condé commune is 40.1 hectares (99.1 acres). There are 23.8 ha Pinot Meunier (59.4%), 11.8 ha Pinot Noir (29.4%), 4.0 ha Chardonnay (10.0%), and 0.5 ha other grape varieties (1.2%). Current information from CIVC as of 2019, refers to the situation a few years earlier. In 1997, the vineyard surface was 36 ha. There are 3 vineyard owners (exploitants) in the commune.

Single vineyard sites

Vineyard sites in Celles-lès-Condé include the following, among other:

• Mocque Tonneau, a vineyard site mid-slope. Tarlant in Œuilly produce their La Vigne Royale using Pinot Noir from this site. The name of that Champagne is because this area was popular among the Royal Court of France in former days, presumably for excursions.

Champagne producers

I haven’t found any producers which have their seat in Celles-lès-Condé.

Central Condé-en-Brie with a bridge across La Dhuis and the village church, Église Saint-Rémi. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo Jpduburcq, 2008).

Champagne producers in Condé-en-Brie

Condé-en-Brie is not among the villages which have vineyards in the Champagne appellation, but at leats one Champagne producer is located there:

• Hazard-Devavry (RC), which has just under 6 ha of vineyards in Monthurel, Leuvrigny, Vauciennes, Cumières, Monthelon, and Mancy with about 60% Pinot Meunier, 20% Pinot Noir, and 20% Chardonnay. The range includes the vintage Champagne Cuvée Léo, which is sourced from grand cru vineyards. The producer is a member of the cooperative in Monthelon.

Links

• Wikipedia about Celles-lès-Condé in English, in French.
• The Celles-lès-Condé doesn’t have a website.
• UMC’s village profile of Celles-lès-Condé.
• Swedish version of this post.

© Tomas Eriksson 2018, last updated 2019-04-06