Region
Côte des Bar
Southernmost Champagne subregion in the Aube, 8,000 hectares on Kimmeridgian marl. Pinot Noir-dominant (83-87%), no Grand Cru, close to Burgundy.
What it is
The Côte des Bar is the southern edge of the Champagne AOC, in the Aube département, roughly 130 kilometres south of Reims and Épernay. Chablis lies less than an hour away. The region covers around 8,000 hectares across about 63 villages, roughly a quarter of total Champagne production. The two namesake towns: Bar-sur-Aube (east) and Bar-sur-Seine (south).
Soil and geology
Not the Cretaceous chalk of northern Champagne but Kimmeridgian marl and limestone, the same formation that underlies Chablis. Clay-limestone soils with a thin topsoil (10 to 20 centimetres on the plateaus, deeper in the valley floors). The rivers Sarce, Laigne, Seine, Ource, Arce, Landion, Aube and Bresse have carved the landscape into a mosaic of plateaus, slopes and valleys. The result is a patchwork of micro-terroirs comparable to what you find in Burgundy.
Grapes
Pinot Noir dominates: 83 to 87 percent of plantings, the highest share within Champagne. Chardonnay 10 to 13 percent, Pinot Meunier 3 to 4 percent. The slightly warmer southern climate and Atlantic influence make the Aube outright Pinot-friendly. For northern Champagne producers, Aube fruit is an important source of freshness and minerality in blends.
No Grand Cru, almost no Premier Cru
The Côte des Bar has no Grand Cru villages at all. Premier Cru is almost equally absent. That is historical: the Aube was only definitively integrated into the Champagne AOC in 1927, after years of struggle led by local growers under Gaston Cheq (the 1911 Troyes protests). The échelle des crus, drawn up before that integration, deliberately rated this area low.
Les Riceys and Rosé des Riceys
Les Riceys is the largest wine commune in all of Champagne by area (866 hectares, 716 of which are Pinot Noir). It is the only place in Champagne allowed to bottle three different AOCs: Champagne, Coteaux Champenois (still wine) and Rosé des Riceys (still rosé from 100 percent Pinot Noir with semi-carbonic maceration). The Rosé des Riceys AOC was formally recognised in 1958.
Style
Lighter and fresher than Pinot Noir from the Montagne de Reims. Mineral, with iodine and smoky-limestone notes from the Kimmeridgian soil. Strawberry, violet, sometimes black cherry. The big houses buy Aube fruit specifically for extra freshness in their blends. Growers like Drappier, Cédric Bouchard and Vouette et Sorbée have put the region back on the map.
In the glass
Fresher on the nose than a northern Pinot Noir champagne. Red-fruit core, a light smoky hint, salinity on the finish. A Côte des Bar Blanc de Noirs from a serious grower shows what Kimmeridgian marl can do under Pinot Noir.
Signature grape