THE CHAMPAGNE TERRIOR AND APPELLATION
The area of the Champagne vineyards is around 33 500 ha / 83 000 acres of which almost 21 000 ha / 52 000 acres in the department of Marne.
It owes its quality to itss fragmentation; each village is a cru (specific product of its soil and climate). Remember that the Champagne vineyard is historically very big and old.
In 1865, it extended over 65 000 hectares / 160 000 acres. The occurence of phylloxera in the late nineteenth century and the 1914-18 war will dramatically reduce the surface, to around 12 000 ha / 30 000 acres at the end of a devastating conflict for the Champagne.
But in 1927, Champagne was the first French region to fix the limits of its appellation area. It is still fragmented and extends mainly in the departments of the Marne (72% of production area) and Aube (21%), with 5 main regions (Montagne de Reims, Côte des Blancs, Valley Marne, Côte de Sézanne and Côte des Bar) and on some villages in Aisne, Haute Marne and Seine et Marne altogher 319 municipalities.
Some Champagne specifics
Champagne evaluates its harvest in tons of grapes, pieces of unfermented juice and in number of bottles, distinguishing annual sales of bottles, while elsewhere in France the trend to count in hectoliters. The annual production is thus estimated to around 300 million bottles, with its stocks of 1.2 billion bottles.
The five regions of the appellation area:
- Montagne et Val de Reims: the hills between the plateau and the Ardre valley and Vesle facing south with predominant grapes - pinot noir and pinot meunier.
- Vallée de la Marne : the hills that Aÿ into the Aisne beyond Chateau Thierry, with predominantly clay and limestone soil and with Pinot Meunier as predominant grape variety (62%).
- Côte des Blancs et Sézannais, kingdom of chardonnay (82%). The chalk is omnipresent. The vineyard slopes connect north and south of Epernay to the slopes of Sézanne.
- Côte des Bar between Seine & Aube, south of Champagne. On chalky marly soils tendance and predominance of Pinot Noir (87%).
The area of the Champagne vineyards is around 33 500 ha / 83 000 acres of which almost 21 000 ha / 52 000 acres in the department of Marne.
It owes its quality to itss fragmentation; each village is a cru (specific product of its soil and climate). Remember that the Champagne vineyard is historically very big and old.
In 1865, it extended over 65 000 hectares / 160 000 acres. The occurence of phylloxera in the late nineteenth century and the 1914-18 war will dramatically reduce the surface, to around 12 000 ha / 30 000 acres at the end of a devastating conflict for the Champagne.
But in 1927, Champagne was the first French region to fix the limits of its appellation area. It is still fragmented and extends mainly in the departments of the Marne (72% of production area) and Aube (21%), with 5 main regions (Montagne de Reims, Côte des Blancs, Valley Marne, Côte de Sézanne and Côte des Bar) and on some villages in Aisne, Haute Marne and Seine et Marne altogher 319 municipalities.
Some Champagne specifics
Champagne evaluates its harvest in tons of grapes, pieces of unfermented juice and in number of bottles, distinguishing annual sales of bottles, while elsewhere in France the trend to count in hectoliters. The annual production is thus estimated to around 300 million bottles, with its stocks of 1.2 billion bottles.
The five regions of the appellation area:
- Montagne et Val de Reims: the hills between the plateau and the Ardre valley and Vesle facing south with predominant grapes - pinot noir and pinot meunier.
- Vallée de la Marne : the hills that Aÿ into the Aisne beyond Chateau Thierry, with predominantly clay and limestone soil and with Pinot Meunier as predominant grape variety (62%).
- Côte des Blancs et Sézannais, kingdom of chardonnay (82%). The chalk is omnipresent. The vineyard slopes connect north and south of Epernay to the slopes of Sézanne.
- Côte des Bar between Seine & Aube, south of Champagne. On chalky marly soils tendance and predominance of Pinot Noir (87%).
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