17 terroirs of Champagne

At the moment Champagne includes 35.000 hectares, where the owners can plant vines and use the grapes to make champagne. Only 3.000 of these hectares are impossible to use, because they are covered by churchyards, villages and similar stuff.

The area is divided into four main regions, that are divided into 17 different terroirs. A word, the French use to siginify a special combination of climate, soils, heighth and other factors, that influences the quality of grapes on the particular spot. Not all experts and/or vine countries operate with the notion, but it is an important one in France.

• Montagne de Reims:
  
  The heights of Montagne de Reims lies between the rivers of Marne and Vesle. It is more than 30 kilometers long and between six and 10 kilometers wide. Covered with forest on the top and vineyards on slopes with chalky soils. In the villages of Trépail and Villers-Marmery Chardonnay-vines are the main crop, elsewhere the Pinot Noir is the dominant vine on the mountain.
  
  
  • Massif de Saint Thierry:
    
    
  • Vesle og Ardre
    
    
  • Monts de Berru
    
    
  • Grande Montagne de Reims
  
  
  
• Côte des Blancs og Sézannais:
  
  Côte des Blancs has a nordeast-southeast orientation, perpendicular on the Vallée de la Marne. Here the main crop is Chardonnay, which has given the area its name. In the southern end, at Vertus, there is a long tradition of Pinot Noir. Chalky grounds in the Côte des Blancs provides the white grapes with high quality.
  
  
  • Côte des Blancs
    
    
  • Val de Petit Morin
    
    
  • Sézannais
    
    
  • Vitryat
    
    
  • Montguex
  
  
  
• Vallée de la Marne:
  
  The vineyards of the Marne-valley begin at the village Tours-sur-Marne and continue course west towards Paris. They cover both sides of the river, though there are more on the right side with a southern to southeastern orientation. In villages like Aÿ and Hautvilliers the Pinot Noir-variety has very high quality. From Cumières and further west the Meunier-vine dominate.
  
  
  • Grande Vallée de la Marne
    
    
  • Côteaux Sud d'Épernay
    
    
  • Vallée de la Marne Rive Gauche
    
    
  • Vallée de la Marne Rive Droite
    
    
  • Condé
    
    
  • Vallée de la Marne Ouest
  
  
  
• Côte des Bar:
  
  Côte des Bar is closer to Burgundy than to the other three regions of Champagne. The soils are chalky slopes from the Jura-age. They are cut through by a mosaic of little valleys with different orientations. Mainly Pinot Noir is cultivated.
  
  
  • Bar sur Aubois
    
    
  • Bar Séquanais

Source: Maisons Champagnes

Each of the four big vineareas of Champagne includes about 8.000 hectares.

Our vines grow in the Val de Petit Morin. I just learned that. The last three years I've claimed we belong to the extremities of the Côte des Blancs. The cooperative names us Crus Périphériques de la Côte des Blancs, which means something like vines from the periphery of the Côte des Blancs.

These are the areas that the next 10 years will be extended. New permissions to plant vines will be granted in some or all of these 40 villages. Read more about the regions of Champagne here.