Tours-sur-Marne

Between river and hillside

Tours-sur-Marne lies about eleven kilometres east of Épernay, right on the Marne and the Canal latéral à la Marne. The road linking Châlons-en-Champagne with Épernay runs through the village. Behind it, the southern slope of the Montagne de Reims rises, part of the regional nature park of the same name. Among the neighbouring communes are Bouzy and Ambonnay to the north and north-east, two more names familiar to every champagne lover. Aÿ-Champagne lies to the north-west.

With 1,360 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2023), Tours-sur-Marne is a rural village in the arrondissement of Épernay.

Viticulture and grand cru

The vineyards of Tours-sur-Marne are classed as grand cru, the highest tier of the Champagne classification. The vines, however, cover only a small part of the commune: around 89 per cent of the land is used for agriculture, most of it as arable land. Permanent crops, chiefly the vineyard, make up about 3.8 per cent (as of 2018). The commune's land stretches from the Marne valley to the foot of the Montagne de Reims, a setting that sits between the river and the hills.

“Permanent crops, chiefly the vineyard, make up about 3.8 per cent (as of 2018).

The climate is temperate oceanic. The nearest Météo-France weather station, in Bouzy four kilometres away, records an annual mean temperature of 11.5 °C and around 688 millimetres of rainfall for 1991 to 2020. It also measured 41.2 °C there on 25 July 2019, and minus 20.5 °C in January 1985. Such extremes are part of everyday life for the growers.

A champagne house in the village

The best-known house in Tours-sur-Marne is Laurent-Perrier, which has its headquarters here. The estate lies right next to the village. If you want to taste champagne from the area, you will find a dense choice of producers in Tours-sur-Marne and the neighbouring grand cru villages. It is best to book visits to the houses in advance.

Aulnay-sur-Marne in der ChampagneFoto: Roland45, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Sights and surroundings

• The church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, the village's best-known building
• The Canal latéral à la Marne, good for walks and bike rides along the water
• The floodplains along the Marne and the Tarnauds, a designated nature reserve with rare birds such as the common tern
• The neighbouring villages of Bouzy and Ambonnay with their vineyards

Tours-sur-Marne makes a good quiet stopover on a drive from Épernay towards Châlons-en-Champagne. If you want to experience the Montagne de Reims from its southern side, this is a good place to start.