- Département
- Marne (Grand Est region)
- Site
- Vesle valley, east-south-east of Reims, on the edge of the Montagne de Reims
- Inhabitants
- 1,019 (as at 1 January 2023)
- Source
- Wikipedia, eigene Zusammenfassung
Val-de-Vesle is a village on the Vesle south-east of Reims, and neither a Grand Cru nor a Premier Cru. It is known for Alexandre de Bary, the champagne merchant who had his château and his mausoleum here.
Val-de-Vesle lies in the Marne département, about 16 kilometres east-south-east of Reims, and has 1,019 inhabitants (as at 1 January 2023). As a champagne village in the strict sense it is not a name that means much: it belongs neither to the Grands Crus nor to the Premiers Crus. Even so, the commune has more to do with Champagne than you might first suppose, because a merchant of real standing once lived here.
Location and landscape
The village lies in the valley of the Vesle, a river 139 kilometres long that flows into the Aisne at Ciry-Salsogne. Add to that the Prosne and the Canal de l'Aisne à la Marne, which runs through the south of the commune. Among its neighbours are Verzy and Villers-Marmery, two well-known wine villages on the edge of the Montagne de Reims.
The commune itself is mostly farmland: in 2018 a good 84 per cent of the area was given over to agriculture, almost 84 per cent of it arable land, and a little over 10 per cent to woodland. The Marais de Courmelois forms part of the Natura 2000 site Marais de la Vesle. In 2021 Val-de-Vesle was voted the best village for biodiversity.
Val-de-Vesle lies in the Marne département, about 16 kilometres east-south-east of Reims, and has 1,019 inhabitants (as at 1 January 2023).
As for the climate: the nearest weather station, in Mailly-Champagne, eight kilometres away, recorded an average of 11.2 °C and 755.5 millimetres of rainfall a year for 1991 to 2020.
History
The present commune was formed in 1965 by the merger of Courmelois, Thuisy and Wez. Settlement here goes back much further, though: the remains of a Roman villa have been found, along with five kilns from the 1st century and 64 Gallic graves.
The name Alexandre de Bary ties the place to the champagne trade. The merchant used the Château de Thuisy as a residence for receiving guests, with a park and an aviary. In the First World War it served as a field hospital because of its closeness to the front, was destroyed in the process and later demolished. The town hall now stands in its place, and the park can still be made out.
Things to see
- Mausoleum of Alexandre de Bary, built in 1903
- Church of Saint-Maur in Courmelois, 12th/13th century
- Church of Saint-Éloi in Thuisy
- Church of Wez
- Gallo-Roman settlement remains
Getting there
The village lies on the D 34 between Châlons and Reims, and the A4 motorway crosses the commune. The TER stops at the Val-de-Vesle halt on the line between Châlons-en-Champagne and Reims. The TGV Est line, on the other hand, simply runs through without stopping. If you are exploring the Montagne de Reims, you can make a short stop here to visit the merchant's mausoleum and the three village churches.
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