Champagne village profile: Chézy-sur-Marne on the left bank of the Marne valley

Key facts

Located in subregion / area: Vallée de la Marne / Vallée de la Marne Ouest
Vineyards and grape varieties: 163.3 hectares (403.5 acres), of which 76% Pinot Meunier, 15% Pinot Noir, and 8% Chardonnay.
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 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

On the right bank of Marne
North: Essômes-sur-Marne
North: Azy-sur-Marne
West: Romeny-sur-Marne

On the left bank of Marne
Northeast: Nogentel
East: Nesles-la-Montagne
Southwest: Nogent-l’Artaud
Comment: several of the villages to the south and southeast are not included in the list above, since they are outside the appellation and therefore will not be profiled.

The town hall (mairie) in Chézy-sur-Marne. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo François Goglins, 2014).

The village

Chézy-sur-Marne is located on the left bank of the Marne river, which means south of the river.

The Chézy-sur-Marne commune covers 2243 hectares and has 1350 inhabitants (as of 2016) referred to as Guernouillats and Guernouillates.

The church in Chézy-sur-Marne, Église Saint-Martin. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo François Goglins, 2014).

Vineyards

The vineyards in Chézy-sur-Marne are located to the east and south of the village. One of the blocks is continuous with the vineyards in Nogentel. The vineyards are made up of slopes of varying directions, including a large block of mild south-facing slopes. The vineyards are dominated by Pinot Meunier.

The current vineyard surface in the Chézy-sur-Marne commune is 163.3 hectares (403.5 acres). There are 124.3 ha Pinot Meunier (76.1%), 25.3 ha Pinot Noir (15.5%), and 13.7 ha Chardonnay (8.4%). Current information from CIVC as of 2018, refers to the situation a few years earlier. In 1997, the vineyard surface was 145 ha. There are 19 vineyard owners (exploitants) in the commune.

Champagne producers

Champagne houses

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.

• Philippe Moutardier (ND, Facebook page), whose range includes a vintage Champagne composed of 55% Pinot Meunier, 27% Chardonnay, and 8% Pinot Noir. The cuvée Aphrodite is produced using old vines and is composed of 59% Pinot Meunier, 23% Chardonnay, and 18% Pinot Noir. There is also a Champagne called Kaolin where the disc above the cork (the top part of the wire cage closure) is made from porcelain.

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.

• Bruno Berjot (Facebook page), whose range includes three vintage Champagnes: Millésime, Blanc de Blanc Millésime, and Vieilles Vignes Millésime.
• Charles Constant (RM, Facebook page) who has vineyards in Chézy-sur-Marne, Azy-sur-Marne, and Bonneil.
• De Rekeneire-Petit (RM, Facebook page). The annual production is about 30 000 flaskor. The range includes the vintage Champagne Millesimé composed of 60% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir, and 10% Pinot Meunier.
• Daniel Gerbaux (RC, Facebook page), who has vineyards with 70% Pinot Meunier. The range includes two vintage Champagnes: Le Millésimé composed of 70% Pinot Meunier, 25% Chardonnay, and 5% Pinot Noir (refers to the 2013 vintage) and Millésimé Vieilles Vignes composed of 59% Pinot Meunier, 23% Chardonnay, and 18% Pinot Noir (refers to the 2013 vintage). The producer’s name is also written Daniel Gerbaux & Fils.
• Guichard-Pichelin (Facebook page), has vineyards with 70% Pinot Meunier, 15% Chardonnay, and 15% Pinot Noir. The range includes three vintage Champagnes: Brut Millésime, Blanc de Blanc Millésime och Cuvée Vieilles Vignes Millésime. There are bottles with the producer code RC as well as with RM, and I haven’t been able to figure out which are the more recent ones. The company name is Les Fontaines Du Dolloir.
• Jean-Louis Petit (RC, Facebook page), has 9 ha of vineyards with 6.5 ha Pinot Meunier, 1.5 ha Pinot Noir, and 1 ha Chardonnay. The current range includes two vintage Champagnes: Cuvée Confidence composed of 55% Pinot Meunier, 35% Chardonnay, and 10% Pinot Noir (refers to the 2006 vintage) and Cuvée Audace which is a vintage blanc de blancs. Formerly produced vintage Champagnes include Cuvée Apogée and Cuvée Authentique. The name used to be written J. Louis Petit and the producer was also called Domaine de Brochot. Below a video with pictures from various light aircraft including videos of the vineyards in Chézy-sur-Marne:

Comment: the list may be incomplete.

Links

• Wikipedia about this village in English, in French.
• Website of the Chézy-sur-Marne commune.
• UMC’s village profile of Chézy-sur-Marne.
• Swedish version of this post.

© Tomas Eriksson 2019, last update 2019-04-06