Bergères-lès-Vertus

Bergères-lès-Vertus marks the southern end of the Côte des Blancs, 18 km from Épernay, on the Route touristique du Champagne. The slope overlooks the village to the west, with vineyards on its hillside and woodland at the top; to the south rises Mont Aimé, a 240 m butte-témoin, wooded at the summit and planted with vines on its slopes; to the east lies the chalky plain of Champagne. The Berle rises here. L'UMC (Côte des Blancs terroir) counts 220.3 ha farmed by 130 winegrowers: 97% Chardonnay (214.2 ha), 4.8 ha of Pinot Noir and 0.9 ha of Meunier.

The vineyards lie between 120 and 188 m (5th–95th percentile, our calculation based on IGN data), with an average slope of 11.6% and almost no flat land; half face east, the rest southeast and northeast. The village's history is that of Mont Aimé: inhabited since the Paleolithic, with Neolithic hypogea, it had a castle built in 1210 by Countess Blanche of Navarre; on May 13, 1239, 183 Cathars were burned there, and the fortress, after three sieges during the Hundred Years' War, was dismantled and used as a quarry. During the Revolution, the commune was called Mont-Aimé; in 1815, Tsar Alexander I reviewed the victors over Napoleon there. The Church of Saint-Memmie dates from the late 12th century.

Mont Aimé is also a geological site: in the southwestern quarry, Campanian chalk gives way, above 216 m, to Tertiary marl and limestone containing fossil fish. The appellation rules list Bergères-lès-Vertus among the Premier Cru; in the échelle des crus it was rated 95%. According to the UMC, Maison Lallier has vineyards in the commune. According to the Comité Champagne, Chardonnay produces fresh, floral, citrusy wines that are suitable for aging.

When a Champagne from Bergères-lès-Vertus is available from STELT, it appears below; nearby Vertus and Coligny and the Côte des Blancs have their own pages.