Terroir de Condé

Key facts

Located in: Vallée de la Marne
Vineyards and grape varieties: 732.0 hectares (1808.8 acres), of which 68.6% Pinot Meunier, 18.6% Pinot Noir, and 12.8% Chardonnay.
Villages and classification: 4 villages, all of them “autre cru”.
Noted for: Pinot Meunier.

Villages in the Terroir de Condé

Villages formerly part of the area

  • Celles-lès-Condé: 40.5 ha (10% Ch / 60% PM / 30% PN), autre cru (83%)
  • Connigis: 53.9 ha (6% Ch / 53% PM / 40% PN), autre cru (83%)
  • Courthiézy: 37.2 ha (3% Ch / 80% PM / 17% PN), autre cru (83%)
  • Monthurel: 38.5 ha (9% Ch / 53% PM / 38% PN), autre cru (83%)
  • Reuilly-Sauvigny: 3.0 ha (0% Ch / 93% PM / 7% PN), autre cru (83%)
  • Saint-Agnan: 68.8 ha (21% Ch / 58% PM / 21% PN), autre cru (83%)

Map


Google Maps view with the villages in the Terroir de Condé highlighted, as well as some surrounding villages in white, including those villages that used to be counted as part of the area.

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

Neighbouring areas

East/Northeast (right bank of the Marne): Vallée de la Marne Rive Droite
East/Southeast (left bank of the Marne): Vallée de la Marne Rive Gauche
West: Vallée de la Marne Ouest

Description

Terroir de Condé is one of the 17 areas (“terroirs”) that the Champagne wine region is divided into, at least in the scheme used by the Union de Maisons de Champagne (UMC). These 17 areas are then grouped into four subregions, of which the Vallée de la Marne is one.

Terroir de Condé consists of a few villages furthest to the east in the Aisne departement, close to the border with the Marne departement. The area is wedged into, on one hand, Vallée de la Marne Rive Gauche and Vallée de la Marne Rive Droite in the Marne departement to the east, and on the other hand Vallée de la Marne Ouest to the west. Vallée de la Marne Ouest includes the rest of the Champagne villages in the Aisne department and continues to the western edge of the Champagne wine region, around the border of Aisne with Seine-et-Marne.

The name Terroir de Condé originates from the village Condé-en-Brie located at the stream Le Surmelin. Several Champagne villages are located along the valley formed by Le Surmelin. Downstream, it empties into Marne at Mézy-Moulins.

Using UMC’s current borders (from about 2017), only four villages are part of the Terroir de Condé, three at the Marne river (Barzy-sur-Marne, Passy-sur-Marne, and Trélou-sur-Marne) and one (Baulne-en-Brie) in the valley of Le Surmelin. Between Baulne-en-Brie and the other three, there are several other Champagne villages that UMC now counts as part of the Vallée de la Marne Ouest. Honestly, I can’t really see any geographical logic in the present definition of this area. The former borders are explained below.

In the Terroir de Condé, there are no grand cru or premier cru villages, so all villages in this area are “autres crus”.

In the Terroir de Condé, Pinot Meunier dominates clearly, just as in most of the Vallée de la Marne.

Vineyards in Passy-sur-Marne. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo Jpduburcq, 2007).

Former borders and geography

Before the UMC’s current borders (from about 2017), more villages were counted as part of the Terroir de Condé, with more of a focus on the valley of Le Surmelin and therefore the area close to Condé-en-Brie.

In 2015, nine villages were listed by UMV as part of the area, some along Le Surmelin and one of its tributaries, and some along the Marne river that were situated exactly north of Condé-en-Brie and the villages along Le Surmelin. Eight of the villages were in the Aisne departement and one (Courthiézy) in the Marne department. The uppermost part of the Le Surmelin valley, on the other hand, was also then counted as part of the Vallée de la Marne Rive Gauche.

Formerly, UMC included Baulne-en-Brie and its neighbour La Chapelle-Monthodon in the Vallée de la Marne Rive Gauche area. Since about 2017 the borders of the area were adjusted to coincide with the departmental border. Following this adjustment, Baulne-en-Brie is in included in the Terroir de Condé area.

The adjustment of the area borders in about 2017 meant that they now coincided with the departmental borders in the following way. On the left bank of the Marne river, all villages in the Marne department are in the Vallée de la Marne Rive Gauche and all villages in the Aisne department are in either the Vallée de la Marne Ouest or the Terroir de Condé. This meant that six villages were removed from the Terroir de Condé and that one (Baulne-en-Brie) was added. So far, the change was comprehensible. What I can’t quite understand, though, if why most of the villages around Condé-en-Brie are counted as part of the Vallée de la Marne Ouest rather than the Terroir de Condé.

The valley formed by the stream Le Surmelin. Vineyards are visible in the distance. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo Jpduburcq, 2008).

Vineyards

The current vineyard surface in the Terroir de Condé (as of 2013 according to CIVC, using the old borders) is 732.0 ha (1808.8 acres), distributed over 526 vineyard owners (exploitants) in the 4 villages. There are 501.8 ha Pinot Meunier (68.6%), 136.5 ha Pinot Noir (18.6%), and 93.7 ha Chardonnay (12.8%).

Links

© Tomas Eriksson 2018, last update 2018-09-25