Coteaux Champenois

Coteaux Champenois (Coteaux Champenois) – exceptional appellation in champagne, as his wine – still (not sparkling, like most champagne) and mostly red.

The appellation permits the production of red, white and rosé wines. But the latter two are produced in trace amounts. The permitted area of production covers a large part of champagne, but in practice, using grapes from the Western part of the region.

Because the territory of Coteaux Champenois scattered on the 319 communes, the climatic conditions here are heterogeneous. The main part of vineyards are located in the temperate sea climate with a slight continental influence, especially in the South-East.

The climate, coupled with the latitude (48°-49° n) means that the wine Coteaux Champenois and their sparkling neighbors in the region, “lightly” and have a high natural acidity.

Red wines are more successful in a warm year, because the main used variety – Pinot Noir – hard to reach full maturation in cold conditions.

On some labels the inscription Coteaux Champenois is supplemented with indication of the commune where the grapes were grown for this wine. Do so in the case of red wines from Buzi (Bouzy), AI (Ay), Sillery (Sillery), Kumher (Cumieres) and Vertus (Vertus) and white from Shuyi (Chouilly) and Mesnil (Mesnil).

The most famous red wines of Buzi (Bouzy)

It is easy to understand why under the appellation Coteaux Champenois produced mainly red wines. The Chardonnay grapes in champagne acquires much more value in the production of honey and the famous sparkling wines of the region than in a little known quiet.

Yes, the red Pinot Noir this is also true, but here plays the role of the uniqueness of the wines of Coteaux Champenois as the only red wines in all of champagne.

The second appellation for a quiet sparkling wines is rosé de Rice (Rosé des Riceys), the number of which is negligible, and manufacturers can be counted on the fingers.