Chavot-Courcourt

Location

Chavot-Courcourt lies roughly three kilometres south of Épernay and 32 kilometres south-south-west of Reims in the Marne département. The village of Chavot sits on a slope facing the valley of the Cubry and the urban area of Épernay. The commune covers only 4.42 square kilometres, spread across several hamlets: Courcourt, Ferme du Jard, Les Fleuries, La Grange au Bois and Pont de Bois. To the south the land climbs above 200 metres and is partly wooded.

Neighbouring communes include Vinay and Moussy to the north, Monthelon to the east, Morangis to the south and Brugny-Vaudancourt to the west. Administratively the village belongs to the arrondissement of Épernay and the canton of Épernay-2. On 1 January 2023 it had 340 inhabitants.

Viticulture and landscape

Chavot-Courcourt lies within the Champagne wine region but has no Premier Cru or Grand Cru classification. Even so, the land use shows how strongly viticulture shapes the village. According to the 2018 Corine Land Cover data, 35.9 per cent of the area is given over to permanent crops, which in this part of the world mostly means vines. Add to that 27.1 per cent arable land, 19.6 per cent heterogeneous agricultural areas and 16.1 per cent woodland. Only 1.2 per cent is built up. Overall the commune is rural, with scattered buildings.

“Its foundation goes back to 1108, and it has been protected as a monument historique since 1942.

The climate is temperate oceanic with cool summers. The nearest weather station, at Chouilly, recorded a mean annual temperature of 11.4 °C and just under 669 millimetres of rainfall a year for 1991 to 2020. The heatwave summer of 2019 brought 40.3 °C there on 25 July.

History

The area was already settled in the Neolithic period: polished stone axes have been found at the edge of the plateau. The Gauls kept a fire beacon on Mont-Félix for passing on signals. A Gallo-Roman well, still preserved today, bears witness to Roman settlement.

Champagner Glas

In 952 a wooden castle was built here, seat of the castellany of Mont-Félix. It was destroyed in the 12th century. The commune in its present form came into being on 9 July 1852, when Chavot absorbed part of the commune of Vaudancourt, including Courcourt and the Ferme du Jard, and took the name Chavot-Courcourt. The other part of Vaudancourt went to Brugny-Vaudancourt.

Worth seeing: the church of Saint-Martin

The most important building is the church of Saint-Martin in Chavot. Its foundation goes back to 1108, and it has been protected as a monument historique since 1942. Its history has been eventful:

• In 1567 Huguenots set it on fire during the Wars of Religion.
• In 1579 the abbot of Épernay had it rebuilt, with a smaller nave and transept.
• In 1739 the side aisle on the Moussy side was built anew.
• In 1849 the church received new bells.

Getting there

The best way to visit Chavot-Courcourt is by car from Épernay, just a few minutes away. The line J bus from Moslins to Épernay stops at Courcourt and Chavot Mairie, but it runs only twice a day in each direction, Monday to Saturday (as of 2025). The village makes a quiet side trip if you are visiting the big champagne houses in Épernay and then want to get to know the smaller wine-growing villages nearby.