Fontette

Location in the Côte des Bar

Fontette lies in the heart of the Côte des Bar, the southern part of Champagne in the Aube département. Administratively, the village belongs to the Grand Est region, the arrondissement of Troyes and the canton of Bar-sur-Seine. With 178 inhabitants (as of 2023), Fontette is a small village with scattered buildings, a long way from any larger town.

What stands out is the altitude: the highest point in the commune, the Mont de Noë, reaches 357 metres. The town hall sits at 306 metres and shares the title of highest in the département with that of Channes. The area is drained by the Roise.

Climate and landscape

For wine lovers, the climate is revealing. It is considered temperate, with fresh summers, a raw winter, and frequent fog in autumn and winter. The nearest weather station, in Cunfin, six kilometres away, records an average of 11.0 °C and around 900 millimetres of rain a year for the period 1991 to 2020. Frost is a serious matter here: a low of minus 21 degrees has been measured there.

The landscape is mainly agricultural and wooded:

“The nearest weather station, in Cunfin, six kilometres away, records an average of 11.0 °C and around 900 millimetres of rain a year for the period 1991 to 2020.

• Arable land: 44.7%
• Forest: 37.5%
• Permanent crops: 11.5%
• Other agricultural land: 3.6%
• Built-up areas: 2.7%

In this part of the world, permanent crops typically means vines. As everywhere in the Côte des Bar, Pinot Noir dominates. Fontette is neither a grand cru nor a premier cru village: it stands for the down-to-earth, rural side of Champagne.

History and name

The village name points to the many springs in the surrounding area and is of Latin origin. In the 10th century, Fontenecta appears in a charter of Bishop Achard of Langres, who confirms a donation to a church of Our Lady. Roman traces are not clearly documented, but mosaic fragments and a sarcophagus found on the Haut-de-Charmes plot suggest early settlement. Before the Revolution, in 1789, Fontette belonged to the généralité of Châlons and the élection of Bar-sur-Aube.

Alfred Gratien Champagner

One figure stands out in the village's history: Nicole de Savigny, Baroness of Saint-Rémy and wife of the lord of the village, Jean de Ville. She was the mistress of King Henri II. Her son Henri de Saint-Rémy bore the title of Baron of Fontette. Toussaint Maizières, born in Fontette, sat in the National Assembly as a deputy for the Aube département from 1791 to 1792.

What to see

Two buildings shape the look of the village:

• the church of Saint-Corneille-et-Saint-Cyprien
• the chapel of Saint-Gengoul in the hamlet of Souchot

If you visit Fontette, the best plan is to combine the detour with a drive through the wine villages of the Côte des Bar. The hills, woods and springs of the area give a good impression of the conditions under which champagne is made here.