Voipreux

Voipreux lies three kilometers from Vertus, at the foot of the Île-de-France cuesta known here as the Côte des Blancs, 16 km southeast of Épernay; the Berle runs through the village. L'UMC, however, places it in the Val du Petit Morin terroir and counts 41.4 ha for 34 winegrowers: 41 ha of Chardonnay, 0.3 ha of Pinot Noir and 0.1 ha of Meunier.

The vineyards lie between 106 and 119 m (5th–95th percentile, our calculation based on IGN data), with an average slope of 4.4% and nearly a third of the area on flat ground; the slopes face southeast and, for another third, north, on the flanks of Mont Vergon, a 120 m hill separated from the cuesta and included in the Côte des Blancs vineyard. The name is attested in 1186 as Vadum petrosum, “stony ford”: the village grew where roads crossed at the ford over the Berle, was the center of a pagus in the Middle Ages and a fortified town in the County of Champagne. The 12th-century church of Saint-Pierre, a Merovingian necropolis and a menhir remain.

The appellation rules list Voipreux among the Premier Cru; in the échelle des crus, it was rated 95%. Since January 1, 2018, it has been part of the new municipality of Blancs-Coteaux, together with Vertus, Oger and Gionges, but the cru retains its name. According to the UMC, Veuve Clicquot has vineyards in the municipality. Chardonnay, according to the Comité Champagne, produces fresh, floral, citrusy wines suited to aging.

When a Champagne from Voipreux is available at STELT, it appears below; nearby Vertus and Villeneuve-Renneville-Chevigny and the Côte des Blancs have their own pages.