Montagne de Reims

Flanked by the Vesle to the north and the Marne to the south, the Montagne de Reims forms a broad headland carpeted with woodland and thickets; it surrounds Reims like a half-moon, extends nearly 20 miles east to west and is 3 to 6 miles wide. It is Champagne's most northerly sub-region, and the Montagne itself is a 30km-long wooded plateau standing at up to 298m. The Champagne vineyard is a hillside vineyard on the cuestas of the eastern Paris Basin, with slopes facing east and south and sometimes north, as in the northern Montagne de Reims. Pinot Noir grows mainly on the lower slopes of the wooded Montagne de Reims between Reims and Épernay. The area divides into roughly four sub-zones: the north face of the Grande Montagne; the eastern edge of the Grande Montagne, the Perle Blanche; the southern slopes of the Grande Montagne and the west; and the Petite Montagne and the northwest. The Petite Montagne is so called because of its more modest elevation rather than the quality of its wines. Soils follow the same split: the Grande Montagne is on Cretaceous chalk with topsoils of varying depth, whereas the Petite Montagne and the northwest are on younger soils of sand, clay and limestone. In Champagne, chalk is highly porous and acts as a reservoir, storing 300 to 400 litres of water per cubic metre, so that vines have a steady supply of water even in the driest summers.

• Shape: surrounds Reims like a half-moon, nearly 20 miles east to west and 3 to 6 miles wide, between the Vesle to the north and the Marne to the south
• Plateau: a 30km-long wooded plateau standing at up to 298m; in the words of Paul Froissart of Lafalise Froissart in Verzenay, 'When the vine is green, the storms come from the southwest, and the Montagne protects the grands crus of Mailly, Verzenay and Verzy from the huge atmospheric depressions'
• Four sub-zones: the north face of the Grande Montagne, the Perle Blanche on its eastern edge, the southern slopes of the Grande Montagne and the west, and the Petite Montagne and the northwest
• Chalk: highly porous, storing 300 to 400 litres of water per cubic metre and supplying vines even in the driest summers

The Champagne specification, in the version INAO reproduced on 5 November 2015, lets 17 communes of the Marne add 'grand cru' to the appellation name, among them Ambonnay, Beaumont-sur-Vesle, Bouzy, Louvois, Mailly-Champagne, Puisieulx, Sillery, Verzenay and Verzy. The Decree of 1 July 1952 reserved 'grand cru' for municipalities with a 100% rating on the old cru scale, and when INAO scrapped the scale in 2010, municipalities could keep their grand cru and premier cru designations. The Grande Montagne is home to all but one of Champagne's grand cru villages for Pinot Noir. On the north face, Mailly, Verzenay and Verzy have historically been rated grand cru despite their northern exposure. Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon of Louis Roederer calls Verzenay's wines 'structured, round in texture and saline' and Verzy 'more delicate'. Mailly is one of the latest-ripening villages in all of Champagne and is dominated by the cooperative Mailly Grand Cru. West of Mailly, the lower-sited grands crus of Beaumont-sur-Vesle, Puisieulx and Sillery have few estate-bottled wines, and Decanter rates their reputation as more modest. Past Trépail, the slopes turn south to Ambonnay and Bouzy, which Decanter calls two of Champagne's great powerhouses of Pinot Noir. In the words of Quentin Paillard of Pierre Paillard, 'Bouzy tends to be around one degree warmer than our other sites'. Pinot Noir continues its dominance down by the river in Tours-sur-Marne and in the cooler hills of Tauxières and Louvois.

• Grand cru communes on the Montagne: Ambonnay, Beaumont-sur-Vesle, Bouzy, Louvois, Mailly-Champagne, Puisieulx, Sillery, Verzenay and Verzy, out of 17 grand cru communes in the Champagne specification
• North face: Quentin Paillard, who makes wine from both north-facing Verzenay and south-facing Bouzy, started harvesting eight days later in Verzenay in 2018 for the same level of ripeness
• South face: in Paillard's experience, red fruit aromas tend to come from the southern villages while the northern villages show more citrus
• Mailly-Champagne: wines from the village are almost entirely swallowed up into its cooperative, Mailly Grand Cru

Decanter calls the grapes of the grands crus around the northern edge of the Montagne an essential Pinot Noir backbone of many of Champagne's vintage and prestige-level wines. Louis Roederer's vintage cuvée is almost entirely from the northern Montagne de Reims, as are the wines of Palmer & Co above the entry level. GH Mumm owns Verzenay's windmill and has significant historical vineyard holdings in the village, with evidence of the company placing orders for wines from Verzenay dating back to 1727. On the eastern flank, Trépail and Villers-Marmery are home to Chardonnay, and Chardonnay from the Perle Blanche forms an important part of prestige cuvées such as Rare and Dom Ruinart. Montagne growers include Egly-Ouriet, whose Grand Cru Blanc de Noirs comes from an Ambonnay parcel, Benoît Marguet, whom Decanter calls Ambonnay's biodynamic pioneer, Pierre Paillard in Bouzy, Lafalise Froissart in Verzenay, Huré Frères in Ludes and A Margaine in Villers-Marmery. The Petite Montagne is today a hotbed for independent growers, with Jérôme Prévost and Egly-Ouriet's cuvée Les Vignes de Vrigny among the names for Meunier on sand, and near the Massif de St Thierry at Champagne's northern frontier, producers include Chartogne-Taillet in Merfy and Minère F&R in Hermonville. INAO lists the Massif de Saint-Thierry as a region of the Champagne vineyard separate from La Montagne de Reims.

• Houses: Louis Roederer's vintage cuvée is almost entirely from the northern Montagne de Reims; Mumm's cellar master Yann Munier chooses Pinot from Verzenay exclusively for the house's RSRV Blanc de Noirs
• Perle Blanche: Chardonnay from the east-facing slopes forms an important part of Rare and Dom Ruinart; Arnaud Margaine of A Margaine puts it this way: 'I'd say our Chardonnay is rounder, whereas the Côte des Blancs is more mineral'
• Growers: Egly-Ouriet (Les Crayères parcel in Ambonnay), Marguet (Ambonnay), Pierre Paillard (Bouzy), Lafalise Froissart (Verzenay), Huré Frères (Ludes), A Margaine (Villers-Marmery)
• Northern frontier: Chartogne-Taillet in Merfy and Minère F&R in Hermonville, near the Massif de St Thierry, which INAO lists as a separate region of the Champagne vineyard

The Montagne de Reims stylistic signature splits along the massif: Decanter's Tom Hewson describes a stylistic rift between the brightness and tension of the north face and the power of the south face. François Huré of Huré Frères contrasts his village of Ludes with Bouzy, just 12km away on the south face: 'Bouzy is one of the first places to ripen in Champagne, and Ludes is one of the last'. Pinot Noir endows Champagne wines with body, punch and structure and gives distinctive aromas of red fruits and flowers (rose, violet). For Rémi Vervier of Palmer & Co, the northern Pinots need age to shine, while 'the Pinot Noir is more fruity in Bouzy and Ambonnay'. The Montagne also carries a still-wine tradition: its cool north-facing slopes were known as far back as the 10th century for their still reds, historically referred to as Vins de la Montagne, and around Ambonnay and Bouzy many of Champagne's still reds are made, either bottled as Coteaux Champenois or blended into Champagne rosés. Bouzy Rouge, a lightish red made in very ripe vintages, is an example of Coteaux Champenois. Meunier is a rarity on the chalk of the north face around Ludes, Chigny-les-Roses and Rilly-la-Montagne, whereas much of the Petite Montagne is planted to Meunier on sand.

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/reims-and-its-region, https://www.inao.gouv.fr/produit/champagne-21054, https://www.champagne.fr/en/champagne-frequently-asked-questions?nid=608, https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/CNAOV-2015-11-05-418-Champagne.pdf. The INAO PDF is the 5 November 2015 national committee file that reproduces the Champagne specification then in force. Secondary sources: https://www.decanter.com/wine/wine-regions/champagne-report-the-two-faces-of-the-montagne-de-reims/, https://www.decanter.com/premium/regional-profile-champagnes-montagne-de-reims-517916/, https://www.jancisrobinson.com/learn/wine-regions/france/champagne. Last verified 2026-10-05