Colombé-le-Sec

Location

Colombé-le-Sec lies in the Aube département in the Grand Est region and belongs to the arrondissement and canton of Bar-sur-Aube. On 1 January 2023 the commune had 157 inhabitants, about 5.4 per cent more than in 2017. The statistics office Insee classes the village as a rural commune with dispersed settlement. It lies outside any urban area and falls within the catchment of Bar-sur-Aube, which covers 43 communes.

In the north-west the stream known as the Bresse crosses the commune. It is 12 kilometres long, rises in the neighbouring village of Colombé-la-Fosse and joins the Aube near Ailleville.

Viticulture

Colombé-le-Sec is part of the Côte des Bar, the southern part of Champagne. The village has no grand cru or premier cru rating. That is not unusual in this area, as the Aube only partly uses this classification system. Anyone looking for champagne here will find grower wine from a village that is entirely oriented towards farming.

“On 1 January 2023 the commune had 157 inhabitants, about 5.4 per cent more than in 2017.

The figures from the European land cover database Corine Land Cover make this clear: 83.6 per cent of the land is farmed (as of 2018). Of that, 59.3 per cent is arable land and 22.7 per cent permanent crops. In Champagne, that almost always means vineyards. Add to that 12.9 per cent woodland, 1.2 per cent meadow and just 3.5 per cent built-up area.

Climate

For the vines, climate is what counts. According to the Köppen-Geiger classification, Colombé-le-Sec has a temperate climate with cool summers (Cfb). Between 1971 and 2000 the mean annual temperature was 10.4 °C, with average rainfall of 915 millimetres a year. Météo-France describes the region as having harsh winters and frequent fog in autumn and winter.

The nearest Météo-France weather station is in Ailleville, nine kilometres away. There, a high of 41.3 °C was recorded on 25 July 2019 and a low of minus 19.7 °C on 20 December 2009. Growers in Champagne know such swings well.

What to see

A visit is worthwhile above all as a stop on a drive through the Côte des Bar. In the village itself you can see:

• the church of Saint-Martin, protected as a monument historique since 1926
• the Chapelle Saint-Michel du Cellier
• the historic wash house (lavoir)

It is best to combine the detour with Bar-sur-Aube, the nearest larger town, and a visit to a grower in the surrounding area.