Côte de Sézanne

The Côte de Sézanne lies in the southwest of the Marne department, around the small town of Sézanne, 44 kilometers from Épernay and 62 from Troyes. Beyond the Saint-Gond marshes, the same cuesta as the Côte des Blancs, the Côte d'Île-de-France, resumes and descends to the department boundary: the appellation regulations call it Côte du Sézannais and count it among the vineyard's most representative sectors. The south-facing slopes and chalky soils produce well-ripened grapes with a sunny character, and the Comité Champagne cites it alongside the Côte des Blancs as a prime growing area for Chardonnay.

According to the UMC, the Sézannais comprises twelve communes and about 1,420 hectares farmed by more than 700 growers: Chardonnay 75%, Pinot Noir 18%, Meunier 6%. Barbonne-Fayel, with 265 hectares, and Sézanne, with about 207, are the communes with the most vineyards; they are followed by Bethon, Broyes, Fontaine-Denis-Nuisy, and Montgenost, then Allemant, Bergères-sous-Montmirail, Chantemerle, La Celle-sous-Chantemerle, Saudoy, and Vindey. Sézanne's vineyard is fragmented into more than a thousand plots, with around a hundred harvest declarants.

There are no Grand Cru or Premier Cru vineyards, and the area remains one of the least known in Champagne; the Union des Maisons de Champagne considers it part of an expanded Côte des Blancs, together with the Val du Petit Morin, the Vitryat, and Montgueux. Yet the vineyards are ancient: in 1782, Legrand d'Aussy counted Sézanne, along with Épernay, Reims, and Hautvillers, among the wines of Champagne already known in the 12th century, and a fossil vine, Vitis sezannensis, has been described in the city's Tertiary travertine.

At STELT, the Côte de Sézanne is represented by Sézanne; for other Chardonnay wines grown on chalk, see the Côte des Blancs page.