Vallée de la Marne Ouest

Key facts

Located in: Vallée de la Marne
Vineyards and grape varieties: 2682.0 hectares (6627.4 acres), of which 69.1% Pinot Meunier, 15.9% Chardonnay, and 14.9% Pinot Noir.
Villages and classification: 38 villages, all of them “autre cru”.
Noted for: Pinot Meunier.

Villages in the Vallée de la Marne Ouest

Villages in Seine-et-Marne

  • Citry: 13.8 ha (20% Ch / 65% PM / 15% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Nanteuil-sur-Marne: 38.6 ha (38% Ch / 44% PM / 17% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Saâcy-sur-Marne: 38.7 ha (60% Ch / 29% PM / 11% PN), autre cru (80%)

Villages in Aisne (the western and middle part)

  • Azy-sur-Marne: 88.0 ha (5% Ch / 82% PM / 13% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Bézu-le-Guéry: 25.5 ha (6% Ch / 6% PM / 5% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Blesmes: 15.0 ha (9% Ch / 91% PM / 0% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Bonneil: 76.7 ha (11% Ch / 79% PM / 10% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Brasles: 80.0 ha (41% Ch / 47% PM / 12% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Charly-sur-Marne: 365.0 ha (16% Ch / 75% PM / 9% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Chartèves: 0.1 ha (0% Ch / 100% PM / 0% PN), autre cru (83%)
  • Château-Thierry: 43.9 ha (15% Ch / 61% PM / 24% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Chézy-sur-Marne: 160.9 ha (8% Ch / 79% PM / 13% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Chierry: 11.7 ha (56% Ch / 38% PM / 5% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Crouttes-sur-Marne: 172.2 ha (26% Ch / 61% PM / 13% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Domptin: 67.2 ha (5% Ch / 81% PM / 14% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Essômes-sur-Marne: 278.6 ha (15% Ch / 63% PM / 21% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Étampes-sur-Marne: 13.2 ha (43% Ch / 55% PM / 2% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Fossoy: 62.1 ha (10% Ch / 77% PM / 12% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Gland: 146.4 ha (15% Ch / 69% PM / 16% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Mézy-Moulins: 21.3 ha (39% Ch / 58% PM / 3% PN), autre cru (83%)
  • Mont-Saint-Père: 152.4 ha (18% Ch / 61% PM / 21% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Montreuil-aux-Lions: 18.1 ha (3% Ch / 77% PM / 20% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Nesles-la-Montagne: 40.0 ha (11% Ch / 76% PM / 13% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Nogent-l’Artaud: 2.1 ha (0% Ch / 100% PM / 0% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Nogentel: 20.2 ha (5% Ch / 81% PM / 14% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Pavant: 24.0 ha (24% Ch / 43% PM / 33% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Romeny-sur-Marne: 75.0 ha (13% Ch / 71% PM / 16% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Saulchery: 127.8 ha (14% Ch / 77% PM / 8% PN), autre cru (80%)
  • Villiers-Saint-Denis: 106.2 ha (16% Ch / 73% PM / 11% PN), autre cru (80%)

Villages furthest to the east in Aisne, including those that formerly was counted as part of Terroir de Condé, and the other along the Le Surmelin valley

Maps


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 area

East/northeast (right bank of the Marne): Terroir de Condé
East/southeast (left bank of the Marne): Vallée de la Marne Rive Gauche

The Marne river between Nanteuil-sur-Marne (left) and Sâacy-sur-Marne (right), the two Champagne villages located furthest to the west along the Marne, both in the Seine-et-Marne department. To the left in the picture, vineyards in Nanteuil-sur-Marne are visible. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo Chabe01, 2017).

Description

Vallée de la Marne Ouest 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.

Vallée de la Marne Ouest is the western part of the Champagne wine region along the Marne river, along a stretch of about 30 km (just under 20 miles). The name simply means Western Marne Valley. The area includes the Champagne villages in the Seine-et-Marne departement (3 villages) and most of those in the Aisne departement (35 of 39 villages). The exception are some villages furthest to the east in Aisne, which are counted as part of the Terroir de Condé area. Château-Thierry is the largest town of the area, and is also centrally located.

The Marne river in the western part of Château-Thierry, looking downstream. In the right part of the picture the American Monument is visible, commemorating the efforts of U.S. troops in this area in World War I. The vineyards to the left of the monument are mostly located in Essômes-sur-Marne. Picture linked from Wikimedia Commons (photo François Goglins, 2012).

The villages furthest to the west are slightly closer to Paris than to Reims. The distance from these villages to the beltway around Paris is about 60 km (just under 40 miles), as the bird fly. The village furthest to the west is Montreuil-aux-Lions.

Most villages of the area are situated directly along the Marne river. The exceptions are four villages furthest to the west in Aisne (north of the river), three villages to the south of Château-Thierry (south of the river), and six villages along the valley of Le Surmelin furthest to the east in Aisne (south of the river).

Under UMC’s current borders (from about 2017), a number of villages are included in the Vallée de la Marne Ouest which used to be counted as part of the Terroir de Condé, mostly along the valley formed by the stream Le Surmelin.

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

In the Vallée de la Marne Ouest, there are no grand cru or premier cru villages, so all villages in this area are “autres crus”.

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

Vineyards

The current vineyard surface in the Vallée de la Marne Ouest is 2682.0 hectares (6627.4 acres), distributed over 1923 vineyard owners (exploitants) in the 38 villages. There are 1853.2 ha Pinot Meunier (69.1%), 426.2 ha Chardonnay (15.9%), 400.4 ha Pinot Noir (14.9%), and 2.2 ha others (0.1%). Current information from CIVC as of 2018, refers to the situation a few years earlier.

Links

© Tomas Eriksson 2018, last update 2019-04-07