Regions

Côte des Bar

koht day BAR

Champagne's southern sub-region in the Aube, where Pinot Noir is the dominant grape on mostly Kimmeridgian clay-chalk marl, and where independent and grower domaines work alongside the big houses that buy much of its Pinot Noir.

The Côte des Bar is the southern sub-region of Champagne. The Comité Champagne names it as one of four main wine-growing sub-regions, alongside Montagne de Reims, Marne Valley and Côte des Blancs, and places it right to the south of the Champagne AOC area, south-east of Troyes; INAO lists La Côte des Bar as one of the fourteen regions of the Champagne vineyard. Decanter's Tim Hall (2022) puts it some 130km south and slightly east of central Champagne, with some 7,900ha of vines, 23% of the Champagne vineyard, while Decanter's Tom Hewson (2025) gives 8,000ha, almost a quarter of the Champagne Viticole. The Comité Champagne says Pinot Noir makes up 83% of the vines here, with a small percentage of Chardonnay and Meunier. Hall (2022) describes mostly Jurassic, or Kimmeridgian, soils, a clay-chalk marl like in Chablis and Sancerre, and notes that the Aube has never been allocated any grand cru or premier cru villages. The same geography also produces the still Rosé des Riceys, which INAO says comes from the single commune of Les Riceys.

Geography, the Aube Department, and Kimmeridgian Soils

The Comité Champagne places the Côte des Bar right to the south of the Champagne AOC area, south-east of Troyes, and describes lots of little green valleys interwoven between the patchwork of vines. Its Côte des Bar wine trail begins about 2 hours from Reims and runs from Troyes to Clairvaux Abbey, and it explains the name: the vineyard surrounds two large villages, Bar-sur-Seine and Bar-sur-Aube. Decanter's Tim Hall (2022) explains that Aube is the name of the département and Côte des Bar the Champagne wine district within it, some 130km south and slightly east of central Champagne; he gives some 7,900ha of vines, 23% of the Champagne vineyard, while Decanter's Tom Hewson (2025) gives 8,000ha, almost a quarter of the Champagne Viticole. The Comité Champagne attributes 23% of the Champagne area under vine to the Aube département, and INAO counts 63 of the 319 communes of the grape-growing area in the Aube. Hall describes the rivers Seine and Aube splitting the district into the Bar-Sequannais in the west and the smaller Bar-sur-Aubois in the east, with vineyard slopes often narrower and steeper than the gentler chalky escarpments of the Marne to the north. On geology, Hall writes that the Aube belongs to the Jurassic period, formed between 145 million and 200 million years ago, and that its soils are mostly Jurassic, or Kimmeridgian, a clay-chalk marl like in Chablis and Sancerre, with some areas carrying the debris of younger and harder Portlandian rocks. Hewson (2025) places the Kimmeridgian and Portlandian bedrocks roughly 70 million years before the Cretaceous chalks of the Marne were laid down. Hall adds that steeper slopes create a steeper angle of incidence of the sun, making the Côte des Bar 1˚C warmer than central Champagne, and that it is slightly warmer than the Marne, with over 100 more hours of annual sunshine. INAO lists La Côte des Bar and La Butte de Montgueux as separate regions among the fourteen of the Champagne vineyard, and Hall likewise treats Montgueux, west of Troyes, as distinct, with Turonian chalk soils and almost exclusively Chardonnay.

Right to the south of the Champagne AOC area, south-east of Troyes (Comité Champagne); some 130km south and slightly east of central Champagne (Decanter, 2022)
Some 7,900ha, 23% of the Champagne vineyard (Decanter, 2022); 8,000ha, almost a quarter of the Champagne Viticole (Decanter, 2025)
Mostly Jurassic, or Kimmeridgian, clay-chalk marl like in Chablis and Sancerre, with some Portlandian debris (Decanter, 2022)
Two wings: the Bar-Sequannais in the west and the smaller Bar-sur-Aubois in the east; 1˚C warmer than central Champagne (Decanter, 2022)

Key Facts

Southern sub-region of Champagne: the Comité Champagne places the Côte des Bar right to the south of the Champagne AOC area, south-east of Troyes, and names it one of four main wine-growing sub-regions
Area: some 7,900ha, 23% of the Champagne vineyard (Decanter, 2022); 8,000ha, almost a quarter of the Champagne Viticole (Decanter, 2025); INAO counts 63 of the 319 grape-growing communes in the Aube département
Soils: mostly Jurassic, or Kimmeridgian, clay-chalk marl like in Chablis and Sancerre, with debris of younger and harder Portlandian rocks in some areas (Decanter, 2022)
Grapes: Pinot Noir makes up 83% of the vines (Comité Champagne); Decanter gives 83.9% Pinot Noir, 11.64% Chardonnay and 3.17% Meunier (2022) and about 85% Pinot Noir (2025)
Two wings split by the Seine and Aube river systems: the Bar-Sequannais in the west and the smaller Bar-sur-Aubois in the east (Decanter, 2022); no grand cru or premier cru villages have ever been allocated to the Aube (Decanter, 2022)
History: excluded from Champagne's first attempts to demarcate its vineyard area in 1908, then included in the Champagne appellation in 1927 (Decanter, 2025); INAO cites the law of 22 July 1927 defining the Champagne viticole

Pinot Noir and the Other Grapes

The Comité Champagne says Pinot Noir accounts for 38% of the area under vine in Champagne and is the dominant grape in Montagne de Reims and Côte des Bar, and that it makes up 83% of the vines in the Côte des Bar, with a small percentage of Chardonnay and Meunier. Decanter's Tim Hall (2022) gives 83.9% Pinot Noir, 11.64% Chardonnay and 3.17% Meunier, and elsewhere in the same profile puts the Aube at 85% Pinot Noir, 13% Chardonnay and 3% Meunier, linking the Pinot Noir weighting to late spring frost in the steep valleys, since Pinot Noir is later budding than Chardonnay; Decanter's Tom Hewson (2025) says Pinot Noir represents about 85% of plantings. According to the Comité Champagne, Pinot Noir endows Champagne wines with body, punch and structure, with aromas of red fruits and flowers (rose, violet). Hall writes that producers major on ripe, juicy, red-fruited Pinot Noir and that the clay-limestone (marl) soil blend tends to make rounder, fuller styles of Champagne than the stricter north; Hewson finds the wines often rounder and fruitier than those of the north, but surprisingly delicate. Hall lists small proportions of the minority varieties Arbanne, Petit Meslier, Pinot Blanc (Blanc Vrai) and Pinot Gris (Fromenteau), and Hewson describes a surprisingly high quota of Pinot Blanc centred on frost-prone villages in and around Celles-sur-Ource. Hall reports that the bulk of the Aube's Pinot Noir grapes are bought by the big Champagne houses of Reims and Épernay, and that the Côte des Bar provides 23% of Champagne's grapes but over half its Pinot Noir. JancisRobinson.com describes Blanc de Noirs, made exclusively from Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, as a speciality of the Aube.

Pinot Noir makes up 83% of the vines (Comité Champagne); 83.9% Pinot Noir, 11.64% Chardonnay, 3.17% Meunier (Decanter, 2022); about 85% Pinot Noir (Decanter, 2025)
Pinot Noir brings body, punch and structure, with aromas of red fruits and flowers (Comité Champagne); rounder, fuller styles than the stricter north (Decanter, 2022)
Minority varieties: Arbanne, Petit Meslier, Pinot Blanc (Blanc Vrai), Pinot Gris (Fromenteau) (Decanter, 2022); Pinot Blanc centred on frost-prone villages around Celles-sur-Ource (Decanter, 2025)
23% of Champagne's grapes but over half its Pinot Noir, the bulk of it bought by the big houses of Reims and Épernay (Decanter, 2022)

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Growers and Houses

Decanter's Tom Hewson (2025) writes that despite the economic dominance of Champagne's large houses, the Côte des Bar today is exploding with récoltant-manipulant domaines, and that independent and grower domaines dominate in this region. Decanter's Tim Hall (2022) writes that partial isolation from Reims and Épernay has encouraged growers to make at least sustainable, if not organic and biodynamic, Champagnes. Hall profiles Roses de Jeanne (Cédric Bouchard) at Landreville as working 3ha, nearly all Pinot Noir, with very low yields, no oak and all zero dosage. At Buxières-sur-Arce, Bertrand Gautherot has run Vouette & Sorbée since 1986, certified biodynamic on 5.5ha, with no dosage (Decanter, 2022). At Polisot, Marie Courtin's Dominique Moreau produces certified biodynamic Champagnes from a single lieu-dit, Tremble, with no dosage, no filtration and natural yeasts (Decanter, 2022). Hall calls Drappier, at Urville, the biggest Côte des Bar house, farming 64ha, organic and carbon-neutral, with the Grande Sendrée lieu-dit among its Champagnes; Hewson places Urville in the Bar-sur-Aubois area. Other names in the Decanter profiles include Olivier Horiot in Les Riceys, with organic and biodynamic certification; Pierre Gerbais in Celles-sur-Ource, run by Aurélien Gerbais on 18ha that include 4ha of Pinot Blanc; and Devaux in Bar-sur-Seine, the label of the Union Auboise cooperative, which Hall says farms over 800ha of vines. Among the houses of the north, Hall reports that Taittinger bought 80ha of vineyards in Loches-sur-Ource.

Independent and grower domaines dominate (Decanter, 2025); partial isolation from Reims and Épernay has encouraged sustainable, organic and biodynamic farming (Decanter, 2022)
Roses de Jeanne (Cédric Bouchard), Landreville: 3ha, nearly all Pinot Noir, all zero dosage (Decanter, 2022)
Vouette & Sorbée, Buxières-sur-Arce: Bertrand Gautherot since 1986, certified biodynamic on 5.5ha; Marie Courtin, Polisot: Dominique Moreau, certified biodynamic, single lieu-dit Tremble (Decanter, 2022)
Drappier, Urville: the biggest Côte des Bar house per Decanter (2022), farming 64ha, organic, with the Grande Sendrée lieu-dit

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Rosé des Riceys, Coteaux Champenois, and the Road to 1927

INAO publishes the annual production conditions for the Rosé des Riceys, Coteaux champenois and Champagne appellations in shared arrêtés. INAO says the Rosé des Riceys vineyard is located on the single commune of Les Riceys, that this still wine is made from Pinot Noir grapes from steep, well-exposed slopes, that it is only made in sunny years, and that the wines have been recognised as an appellation of origin since 1947; INAO puts production at about 50,000 bottles a year, against more than 300 million bottles of champagne, and describes a colour ranging from light salmon to garance red. Decanter's Tom Hewson (2025) calls Rosé des Riceys the deep, still, dry Pinot Noir rosé from the unique group of three villages south of Bar-sur-Seine, and the Comité Champagne's wine trail says Les Riceys is the village with the largest wine-growing surface area anywhere in Champagne, with 866 hectares of vines. JancisRobinson.com says the region's still wines are mostly Coteaux Champenois, which may be white or, in very ripe vintages, lightish red. On history, Hewson writes that Champagne's first attempts to demarcate its vineyard area in 1908 excluded the Côte des Bar entirely, when it was three-quarters planted with Gamay, and that its vignerons fought for a revision until its inclusion in the Champagne appellation in 1927. Decanter's Tim Hall (2022) adds that the Champagne riots of 1911 followed, that a 1911 ruling restored the Aube's Champagne membership only as a second-class (deuxième zone) sub-region, and that it took a law in 1927 to make the Côte des Bar properly Champagne. INAO's Champagne record cites the law of 22 July 1927 defining the Champagne viticole, which takes in communes of the former comté de Bar-sur-Seine where the Champagne name had been claimed in harvest declarations from 1919 to 1924. Hall reports that in the 1950s over 80% of the Aube was planted to Gamay, and that this had changed by the 1980s.

Sources and last verified

Primary sources (Comité Champagne and INAO): https://www.champagne.fr/en/about-champagne/a-great-blended-wine/the-champagne-region, https://www.champagne.fr/en/about-champagne/a-great-blended-wine/champagne-and-its-grape-varieties, https://www.champagne.fr/en/about-champagne/the-champagne-terroir/champagne-and-its-soil, https://www.champagne.fr/en/visit-champagne/the-champagne-region/champagne-wine-trails/cote-des-bar, https://www.champagne.fr/en/about-champagne/champagne-and-its-history, https://www.inao.gouv.fr/produit/champagne-21054, https://www.champagne.fr/en/champagne-frequently-asked-questions?nid=608, https://www.champagne.fr/en/about-champagne/the-champagne-terroir/champagne-and-its-climate, https://www.inao.gouv.fr/produit/rose-des-riceys-21050, https://www.inao.gouv.fr/produit/coteaux-champenois-blanc-21051. Secondary sources: https://www.decanter.com/premium/regional-profile-champagnes-cote-des-bar-489173/, https://www.decanter.com/premium/cote-des-bar-a-pocket-of-champagne-brimming-with-character-553873/, https://www.jancisrobinson.com/learn/wine-regions/france/champagne. Last verified 2026-09-24

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Classification

Classification ladder

Sweetness levels

Sparkling Wine Dosage Sweetness Levels

Champagne AOC Full article 7 tiers, lowest to highest

7 Doux

Doux covers wines with over 50 g/L of residual sugar.

over 50 g/L

The seven categories are: Brut Nature or Zero Dosage (0-3 g/L, no sugar added), Extra Brut (0-6 g/L), Brut (up to 12 g/L), Extra Dry (12-17 g/L), Sec (17-32 g/L), Demi-Sec (32-50 g/L), and Doux (over 50 g/L).

From Dosage: The Final Touch in Sparkling Wine Production
6 Demi-Sec

Demi-Sec covers wines with 32-50 g/L of residual sugar.

32-50 g/L

Demi-Sec (32-50 g/L) shines alongside tarte Tatin, fruit-based desserts, or strong blue cheeses where its sweetness provides a counterpoint to salt and acidity

From Dosage: The Final Touch in Sparkling Wine Production
5 Sec

Sec covers wines with 17-32 g/L of residual sugar.

17-32 g/L

The seven categories are: Brut Nature or Zero Dosage (0-3 g/L, no sugar added), Extra Brut (0-6 g/L), Brut (up to 12 g/L), Extra Dry (12-17 g/L), Sec (17-32 g/L), Demi-Sec (32-50 g/L), and Doux (over 50 g/L).

From Dosage: The Final Touch in Sparkling Wine Production
4 Extra Dry

Extra Dry covers wines with 12-17 g/L of residual sugar and is actually perceptibly sweeter than Brut.

12-17 g/L

Extra Dry (12-17 g/L) is actually perceptibly sweeter than Brut, a counterintuitive naming convention inherited from 19th-century Champagne history

From Dosage: The Final Touch in Sparkling Wine Production
3 Brut

Brut, the most popular category, contains less than 12 g/L of residual sugar.

up to 12 g/L

Dosage ranges from zero (Brut Nature, 0-3 g/L) to over 50 g/L for Doux styles; Brut, the most popular category, contains less than 12 g/L of residual sugar

From Dosage: The Final Touch in Sparkling Wine Production
2 Extra Brut

Extra Brut covers wines with 0-6 g/L of residual sugar.

0-6 g/L

The seven categories are: Brut Nature or Zero Dosage (0-3 g/L, no sugar added), Extra Brut (0-6 g/L), Brut (up to 12 g/L), Extra Dry (12-17 g/L), Sec (17-32 g/L), Demi-Sec (32-50 g/L), and Doux (over 50 g/L).

From Dosage: The Final Touch in Sparkling Wine Production
1 Brut Nature

Brut Nature or Zero Dosage carries no added sugar and 0-3 g/L residual sugar.

0-3 g/L, no sugar added

The Brut Nature category, with no added sugar and under 3 g/L residual sugar, was formally recognized by the CIVC in 1996, though zero-dosage wines existed before that

From Dosage: The Final Touch in Sparkling Wine Production

Extra Dry is sweeter than Brut, a legacy of the era when Brut was comparatively drier than what came before it.
Since 1979, every Champagne label must display the sweetness category as one of seven official EU-regulated designations.
Dosage numbers alone do not predict perceived sweetness: a Champagne with 8 g/L but high natural acidity can taste drier than one with 6 g/L and softer acid structure.

Tiers, criteria and figures come only from Dosage: The Final Touch in Sparkling Wine Production own text. Tap a rung for its criteria and the sentence behind it.

Flavor Profile

Côte des Bar Pinot Noir-led Champagnes anchor on the ripe, juicy, red-fruited Pinot Noir that Decanter's Tim Hall (2022) says producers major on, and on the rounder, fuller styles he attributes to the clay-limestone (marl) soil blend. The Comité Champagne says Pinot Noir endows Champagne wines with body, punch and structure and gives aromas of red fruits and flowers (rose, violet). Decanter's Tom Hewson (2025) finds the wines often rounder and fruitier than those of the north but surprisingly delicate, with an open and expressive fruit character. INAO describes Rosé des Riceys as fine and delicate, with red fruit aromas. Coteaux Champenois rouge, as INAO describes the appellation's red and rosé wines, is all finesse with red fruit aromas, and INAO says all Coteaux Champenois wines share a natural acidity; JancisRobinson.com says Coteaux Champenois may be white or, in very ripe vintages, lightish red, and Decanter's Tom Hewson (2025) reviewed a white Pinot Blanc Coteaux Champenois from the Côte des Bar grower Pierre Gerbais.

Food Pairings

Roast duck breast with cherry sauceCoq au vinWild-mushroom risotto with ParmigianoAged Comté or BeaufortCharcuterie with country pâté and cornichonsGrilled salmon with herb butter

Wines to Try

Drappier Grande Sendrée
Decanter (2022) names the deluxe Grande Sendrée lieu-dit among the Champagnes of Drappier, which it calls the biggest Côte des Bar house.
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Drappier Clarevallis Extra Brut
Decanter (2025) says this cuvée comes from organic plots around Drappier's home in Urville.
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Pierre Gerbais La Loge Extra Brut
A 100% Pinot Blanc cuvée reviewed by Decanter (2025), from a Celles-sur-Ource estate that Decanter (2022) says grows 4ha of Pinot Blanc.
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Coessens Largillier Millésime Brut Nature
From Largillier, which Decanter (2022) describes as a 3.36ha monopole vineyard made by Jérôme Coessens, whose Champagnes are all Blanc de Noirs, 100% Pinot Noir.
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Alexandre Bonnet Les Contrées 7 Cépages Brut Nature
Reviewed by Decanter (2025) in the small field of rare heritage grape varieties, from a Les Riceys producer Decanter calls the leading voice in Les Riceys.
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Pierre Brocard Tradition Brut d’Assemblage
Decanter (2025) calls it a low-dosage introduction to the Pinot Noir of Celles-sur-Ource, blended with 20% Pinot Blanc and 10% Chardonnay.
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How to Say It

Côte des Barkoht day BAR

Bar-sur-Aubebar soor OHB

Bar-sur-Seinebar soor SEN

AubeOHB

Celles-sur-Ourcesehl soor OORS

Buxières-sur-Arceboox-YEHR soor ARS

Polisotpoh-lee-SOH

Urvilleoor-VEEL

Riceysree-SAY

Kimmeridgiankih-meh-RIJ-ee-an

Exam Study NotesWSET / CMS

Côte des Bar: one of the four main Champagne sub-regions named by the Comité Champagne, right to the south of the AOC area, south-east of Troyes; one of INAO's fourteen Champagne regions
Some 7,900ha, 23% of the Champagne vineyard (Decanter, 2022); two wings, the Bar-Sequannais (west) and the smaller Bar-sur-Aubois (east)
Soils mostly Jurassic, or Kimmeridgian, clay-chalk marl like in Chablis and Sancerre (Decanter, 2022); no grand cru or premier cru villages have ever been allocated to the Aube
Pinot Noir makes up 83% of the vines (Comité Champagne); the Côte des Bar provides over half of Champagne's Pinot Noir (Decanter, 2022)
Excluded from the 1908 demarcation, included in the Champagne appellation in 1927 (Decanter, 2025); Rosé des Riceys: still Pinot Noir wine from the single commune of Les Riceys, an appellation of origin since 1947 (INAO)

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