Romigny

Location in the Tardenois

Romigny lies in the far north-west of the Marne département, right on the border with the Aisne département and thus with the Hauts-de-France region. The commune belongs to the agricultural landscape of the Tardenois and sits about 21 kilometres west-south-west of Reims. By road it is around 34 kilometres to the coronation city, and about 16 kilometres to Dormans. Administratively, Romigny belongs to the canton of Dormans-Paysages de Champagne and, since 2014, to the Communauté de communes Ardre et Châtillonnais.

The commune covers 1,135 hectares and rises from 130 to 249 metres. The highest point lies south of the village. Romigny sits on a watershed: to the east the Brandeuille drains towards the Ardre, to the west the Semoigne towards the Marne. The Semoigne rises within the commune, is 17 kilometres long and joins the Marne at Verneuil.

Landscape and viticulture

Anyone expecting famous vine slopes here will be disappointed. Romigny has neither grand cru nor premier cru status, and the land use tells a different story: around 89 per cent of the commune is arable land, a good 7 per cent is woodland, and only 0.8 per cent is given over to permanent crops. The village is rural, with scattered buildings and 206 inhabitants (as of 2023).

“The village is rural, with scattered buildings and 206 inhabitants (as of 2023).The climate has an oceanic tinge.

The climate has an oceanic tinge. At the nearest weather station, in Chambrecy, the annual mean from 1991 to 2020 was 10.7 °C, with rainfall of around 734 millimetres. A temperature of 40.3 °C was also recorded there in July 2019. For Romigny, that gives an idea of the range that farmers and growers in the region have to deal with.

History

The area has been settled since at least the Neolithic, as prehistoric tool finds suggest. In the First World War, General Mordacq set up his headquarters in Romigny, at no. 12 Rue de la Recette. Clemenceau, who had just been asked to form a government, came there to persuade Mordacq to join his military cabinet.

Pol Roger Champagner Keller

What to see

• Church of Saint-Médard: The oldest parts date from the 12th century and are Romanesque, including the main entrance (altered later), the first bay of the nave, the choir with its apse and several capitals with sculptures. The bell tower was added later. The church only narrowly survived the French Revolution, and some statues lost their heads at the time. It was damaged in the First World War and afterwards restored by the Ministry of Culture. It has been protected as a Monument historique since 1919.
• Cedar of Lebanon: A mighty tree that has been growing in the village for almost two hundred years.

Planning your visit

Romigny makes a quiet stop away from the well-known champagne routes, for example on the way between Reims and the Marne valley. For tastings, you are better off planning on the villages of the Montagne de Reims or the Vallée de la Marne. The church and the landscape of the Tardenois are worth the detour for anyone who wants to get to know Champagne beyond the vine rows.