Champagne wines from the Aube, in Champagne’s deep south, are different from those in the Marne. Soil composition, and microclimate, make for particularly good pinot noir growing conditions, with more Burgundian influence. In this profile of the Aube, Bhatia Dheeraj and Sara Underdown celebrate the history and the beauty of this less-understood terroir.
Much ado about nothing
The Aube department, way down in the southern part of Champagne, offers quite a different expression of wine - when compared with the Marne - because it straddles the extreme edge of the appellation, with Burgundy on the other side. It inspires many conversations amongst wine lovers - are its wines more like one than the other?
There are 106 kilometres between Reims and Troyes, the Aube’s capital, making the rest of Champagne seem so far away. Geographical proximity, relative to Reims and Burgundy, has been at the centre of much political angst and upheaval. Competition between the three – each great wine-producing mini-cities - extends back centuries to a time when they would vie for the King’s favour, who would bounce back-and-forth from one to the other. There were similarities between them all, but where Burgundy wines had more depth or body, champagne had more finesse, though lighter and often with slight petillance.
Troyes’ star rose when it became important as a major trading hub of Europe - during medieval times - but when the capital moved to Châlons, its reign of influence diminished. Nonetheless, the main agricultural growing area – the Côte des Bar – flourished and continued to enjoy recognition for its wines.
There are 106 kilometres between Reims and Troyes, the Aube’s capital
The Aube department, way down in the southern part of Champagne, offers quite a different expression of wine - when compared with the Marne - because it straddles the extreme edge of the appellation, with Burgundy on the other side. It inspires many conversations amongst wine lovers - are its wines more like one than the other?
Notwithstanding all of this, the Aube has a long history of suffering from ‘exclusion’ - both in law and in sentiment - from the rest of Champagne. In the 19th Century, as champagne wines became more popular, some Houses sourced cheaper grapes from outside the area to the bemusement and anger of other producers. Labelling and marketing wine as ‘champagne’, when it wasn’t from Champagne, was fraud.
In 1908 the French Government passed law allowing regions to set boundaries around provenance. In Champagne, the Aube was excluded, at the request of major Champagne Houses, that believed its distance from the Marne was too significant to make authentic champagne wines.
In 1911, new rules prevented Aube producers from using the word ‘champagne’ on its labels, leading to riots in the streets of Troyes and the Bar-sur-Aube. The government overturned the law to include the Aube, although it was relegated to deuxième zone (second-class).
In 1927, the deuxième zone status was abolished, but its shadow has stayed over the Aube ever since. Unlike the Marne, the échelle des crus system, which formalised grape prices according to the rank of each village, never applied to villages in the Aube. Therefore, no grand or premier cru exists.
Champagne or Burgundy?
The orientation of people from the Aube is much more Burgundian than Champagne. In the first instance, the Aube experiences a much more southerly climate, meaning it is generally warmer than the Marne. Wines tend to be richer and fuller in style which comes back to their Burgundian aspiration of wine first, bubble second.
Geographically speaking, the Côte des Bar (Champagne) is a continuation of the Côte d’Or (Burgundy) with vineyards that rest on Kimmeridgian or Portlandian soils, not dissimilar to the terroir of Chablis. New generation winemaker, Cédric Bouchard, is perhaps the most famous Aubois and says that his wines are more Burgundian in style. He, like others, trained specifically in Beaune for this reason.
Extensive chalky marls are found here, where – unlike the Marne - virtually no sand exists. This is because marls, of the Kimmeridgian kind (from the Jurassic era) found in the Aube, are different to the marls of the Cretaceous kind (from the Tertiary era), seen in the Marne. The same soil is found in Chablis.
Marls pre-date the Cretaceous – occurring 160 million years ago - and comprise chalky marl capped by a hard limestone called Portlandian. It is here, in the region’s key growing areas, that the highest component of marl may be found in Champagne; the Côte des Bar fetches as high as 87 percent. Another point of difference is that marls in the Aube are principally planted with pinot noir.
The Kimmeridgian marly calcareous soils and warmer southerly climate make for very different winegrowing conditions than those in the Marne.
Les Riceys
Some of the best still wines of Champagne lead to Rosé des Riceys AOC, located in the south-western part of the Aube.
Rosé des Riceys wine comes from a tiny place called Les Riceys – a municipality made-up of three close-knit villages named Riceys-Haut, Riceys Haute-Rive and Riceys-Bas. Wine has been produced in this region since the 12th Century, made by the Cistercian monks living at the nearby Abbey of Molesme. Monks selected south-facing slopes ideal for growing grapes tolerant enough of Champagne’s extreme cool climate. The sites offered enough sun and warmth to ripen pinot noir to the point where it could be fashioned into a perfumed, brightly coloured rosé.
In the 18th century, production of Les Riceys doubled, with white, rosé and red wine. By 1860, its wines had gained recognition at the Paris exposition, competing with Reims and the Vallée de la Marne. Les Riceys was lauded for its diversified beauty, especially when compared with other zones that were solely focused on sparkling wine production.
Today, Rosé des Riceys AOC lays claim to 350 approved hectares to which only 100 hectares are planted. Only pinot noir is allowed and often produced produced using semi-carbonic maceration. If it doesn’t reach the required levels of ripeness, then grapes go into champagne production. Some of the best parcels are known as ‘contrées’ (like climat or lieux-dits in Burgundy). The wine itself presents uniquely pale pink in colour, often referred to as ‘Oeil de Perdrix’ (eye of the partridge), and terroir is a big contributor to its profile, with limestone, clay and marl.
Only 15 producers make still rosé wine in Les Riceys, but not every year on account of vintage conditions – namely ripeness and quality.
