Côte des Bar

Geography

The Côte des Bar lies in the Aube department in the south of the Champagne appellation, 150 km by road from Reims. It spans two sub-zones — the Barséquanais around Bar-sur-Seine, and the Bar-sur-Aubois around Bar-sur-Aube. Geologically it differs from the rest of Champagne: its subsoils are predominantly Kimmeridgian marl, closer to Chablis than to the Campanian chalk of the Marne.

Terroir

Pinot Noir is overwhelmingly dominant (over 80% of plantings). The combination of a warmer, sunnier climate and limestone-rich marl produces fuller, riper Pinot than anywhere else in Champagne. Chardonnay thrives on selected slopes. Les Riceys — the Côte's best-known village — produces not only champagne but also the still red Rosé des Riceys, one of France's rarest AOC wines.

The grower revolution

Long treated as a supply region for the Marne houses, the Côte des Bar has become the centre of gravity of the grower-champagne movement. Producers such as Cédric Bouchard (Roses de Jeanne), Marie-Courtin, Vouette et Sorbée, Françoise Bedel, Jacques Lassaigne (north, technically Montgueux) and Olivier Horiot have built international reputations for single-parcel, low-intervention wines from the Aube.

Style

Côte des Bar wines lean toward riper fruit, rounder texture and a more generous Pinot character. They age well but are often approachable younger than their northern counterparts.