Côte des Blancs

The Côte des Blancs runs on a north-east to south-west line across the area under vine, at right angles to the Marne Valley: a rolling landscape of slopes and hilltops 6 to 9 miles long, just south of Épernay. The name usually refers to the unbroken run of vineyards from Chouilly down to Vertus and Bergères-lès-Vertus, and that run is not homogenous. It includes the Butte de Saran, an outlier, meaning a free-standing hill that erosion separated from the central Côte, and a central portion that is a cuesta of the Paris Basin: a broad body of chalk under a cap of Brie limestone, ending in the steep drop that forms the Côte des Blancs. Avize sits at the centre of that central portion and Cramant at its northern extremity. Cramant and Avize were the only Côte des Blancs villages ranked grand cru in the original Échelle des Crus, a ranking that stood until 1985, when Chouilly, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger and Oiry were promoted to grand cru status. The decree of 1 July 1952 reserved the term grand cru for municipalities with a 100% rating on the cru scale; when the INAO scrapped the scale in 2010, municipalities already designated grand cru could keep the term. Vertus lies on the outskirts of the Côte des Blancs, and from Le Mont Aimé at Bergères-lès-Vertus the view takes in the Côte des Blancs and its recognisable chalky soils.

• Length: 6 to 9 miles, just south of Épernay; runs from Chouilly to Vertus and Bergères-lès-Vertus
• Geology: a Paris Basin cuesta of chalk under a Brie limestone cap, plus the Butte de Saran outlier; the chalk cliffs suit Chardonnay particularly well
• Grand crus: Avize and Cramant ranked originally; Chouilly, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger and Oiry promoted in 1985
• The 1952 decree limited grand cru to 100%-rated municipalities; the INAO scrapped the cru scale in 2010 but let designated municipalities keep the term

Chardonnay is the star grape variety of the Côte des Blancs: a robust, early-ripening variety particularly well suited to terroirs on an outcrop of chalk such as this one. It brings freshness to Champagne and gives delicately scented wines with floral and citrus notes and, at times, mineral ones. Chardonnay is mainly grown in the Côte des Blancs and the Côte de Sézanne, and chalk, being highly porous, acts as a reservoir for the vines. In 2019 Chardonnay made up 97% of the grapes grown on the Côte des Blancs. Village character differs across the slope. Cramant's vines can face anywhere between northeast and southwest, and Charles Curtis MW (Decanter, 2020) finds that fruit from the lower south-facing slopes of the Butte de Saran shows less lively acidity and more aromas of ripe apricots and white flowers, closer to what he associates with Chouilly, while the steep east-facing sites toward Avize give fruit more reminiscent of ripe apples. Cramant also has a tradition of wines made at about half the pressure of a typical Champagne, formerly called crémant, a term the EU restricted in 1990 to traditional-method sparkling wines from named regions outside Champagne. Decanter's Tom Hewson (2026) writes that Le Mesnil's longevity "makes time an essential ingredient in almost all of the region’s blended Prestige Cuvées from the famous houses, from Taittinger’s Comtes de Champagne and Charles Heidsieck’s Blanc des Millénaires to the likes of Dom Pérignon and Cristal", and that "the flatter vineyards nearer the bottom of the Côte des Blancs are often viewed as the classical, long-lived terroirs thanks to the closeness of the chalk just beneath the surface". Paul Girard of Domaine Girard-Bonnet puts 70% of his Mon Village blend through oak, something he feels "a less structured, austere village such as neighbouring Vertus couldn’t take".

• Chardonnay is the star grape of the Côte des Blancs, suited to its chalk outcrop, bringing freshness and floral, citrus and sometimes mineral notes
• Chardonnay was 97% of the grapes grown here in 2019; it is mainly grown in the Côte des Blancs and Côte de Sézanne
• Cramant: vines face anywhere between northeast and southwest; its low-pressure crémant tradition lost that name after a 1990 EU ruling
• Le Mesnil-sur-Oger: its longevity makes time an essential ingredient in the region's blended prestige cuvées, among them Comtes de Champagne, Blanc des Millénaires, Dom Pérignon and Cristal

Le Mesnil-sur-Oger is home to Salon and to Krug's Clos du Mesnil, which in Decanter's words (2026) "yield two of Champagne’s rarest blanc de blancs"; the Épernay wine trail stops in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger for views over the historic Clos du Mesnil. Eugène Salon released his first wine in 1905, when blanc de blancs was a near-unknown idea; Salon uses neither oak nor malolactic fermentation and gives the wine around ten years on lees. Pierre Péters' Les Chétillons comes from the Chétillon vineyard, which sits either side of the road below Le Mesnil, and the Péters family has kept a perpetual reserve of base wines going since 1988. In Cramant, grower-producer Anselme Selosse owns a south-facing vineyard in the Chemin de Châlons, and Cramant-based producers include Diebolt-Vallois, whose top wines are fermented in used casks, and Suenen, where Aurélien Suenen took charge of the family winery in 2009. As of 2020, GH Mumm owned more than 17ha of vineyards in Cramant, and Perrier-Jouët made its Belle Epoque Blanc de Blancs only from two Cramant vineyards, Bourons Leroi and Bourons du Midi. Vertus, on the outskirts of the Côte des Blancs, is the place to see Duval-Leroy, a sizeable house.

• Salon (Le Mesnil-sur-Oger): first wine released in 1905; no oak, no malolactic fermentation, around a decade on lees
• Krug Clos du Mesnil and Salon: ranked by Decanter (2026) as two of Champagne's rarest blanc de blancs
• Pierre Péters (Le Mesnil-sur-Oger): Les Chétillons from the Chétillon vineyard; perpetual reserve maintained since 1988
• Cramant names: Anselme Selosse's Chemin de Châlons vineyard, Diebolt-Vallois, Suenen, GH Mumm and Perrier-Jouët

Time is at the heart of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger's standing: the village's wines cannot be turned around quickly. Chardonnay brings freshness to Champagne, and in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger Rodolphe Péters of Champagne Pierre Péters told Decanter in 2026 that this freshness is often misread as acidity: "People mistake it for high acidity," adding, "But the freshness is driven by a crispy, electric perception from the chalk, alongside an iodine-like minerality that can feel almost metallic." Péters also finds the chalk "‘dryer’ here than in other villages", with more crumbling below the surface from repeated freezing and thawing. In Cramant, chalk saturated with water froze in the ice age and broke apart as it thawed, sending chalk mud downslope and building small mounds that tilt some vines north and others south. Blanc de Blancs are expressions of the chalky terroirs that create them and are typified by what is called minerality, felt on the palate as acidity and salinity. In 2026 the Côte des Blancs faced a second consecutive heatwave vintage, which Decanter's Tom Hewson sees as "challenging its identity as the racy, restrained backbone of Champagne".

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/about-champagne/the-champagne-terroir/champagne-and-its-topography, https://www.inao.gouv.fr/produit/champagne-21054, https://www.champagne.fr/en/champagne-frequently-asked-questions?nid=608, https://www.champagne.fr/en/champagne-tasting/type-of-champagne/blanc-de-blancs, https://www.champagne.fr/en/visit-champagne/the-champagne-region/champagne-wine-trails/epernay-and-its-region. Secondary sources: https://www.decanter.com/wine-travel/france/cote-des-blancs-wineries-to-visit-417753/, https://www.decanter.com/wine/champagne/why-le-mesnil-sur-oger-yields-champagnes-of-mythical-renown/, https://www.decanter.com/premium/village-profile-cramant-champagne-438927/. Last verified 2026-10-05