Aulnizeux

Location and status

Aulnizeux lies in the Marne département, in the Grand Est region and therefore in the heartland of Champagne. Until 1977 it was an independent commune. Since then it has belonged to Val-des-Marais as a commune associée. In France, this form of merger means that the former village lives on under its own name as part of a larger commune.

If you look for Aulnizeux on a map, you will therefore find it under the umbrella of Val-des-Marais. That matters when you are researching addresses of growers or places to stay: they often appear under the name of the wider commune.

Classification in Champagne

Aulnizeux is classified neither as grand cru nor as premier cru. Only a few villages in Champagne share that honour: 17 hold grand cru status and 44 premier cru. The great majority of wine villages have neither title, and that says nothing about the quality of individual growers. For anyone who enjoys champagne, grape varieties, vintage and the producer's style are at least as worth looking at as the cru designation.

“Only a few villages in Champagne share that honour: 17 hold grand cru status and 44 premier cru.

What the name tells us

The place name can be traced back quite well. It comes from the Latin alnus (alder) and the diminutive ending -icellus, and means roughly "little alder". That suits a landscape with damp soils, since alders like to grow near water. The name of the larger commune, Val-des-Marais, also points to marshland and wetlands.

Over the centuries the name was spelt in many different ways. Some of the recorded forms:

• Aunisel (around 1222)
• Alniseolum (1240)
• Aunoyau (around 1252)
• Aulnisuel (1508)
• Aymizeul (1633)
• Onizeux (18th century)
• Aunizeux (1804)

The present spelling, Aulnizeux, follows on from this long evolution. It shows how fluid place names were before spellings were officially standardised.

Lanson Champagne

Notes for planning your trip

The source we used gives no information on sights, champagne houses or grower estates in Aulnizeux itself, so we deliberately name none. If you would like to visit the area, it is best to treat Aulnizeux as part of Val-des-Marais and plan the region as a whole. In Champagne, you should always ask in advance about tastings with smaller producers, as many estates only receive visitors by appointment.

For champagne lovers, a place like Aulnizeux is a reminder that the region is more than its famous cru villages: even away from the big names there are places with a history of their own, preserved in the name to this day.