Vaudemange

Location

Vaudemange lies in the Marne département, about 24 kilometres south-south-east of the centre of Reims. The village belongs to the arrondissement of Reims and the canton of Mourmelon-Vesle et Monts de Champagne. Administratively it is part of the Communauté de communes Vesle et Coteaux de la Montagne de Reims. At the latest count, 333 people live here (2023). The statisticians classify Vaudemange as a rural commune with scattered housing, within the catchment area of Reims.

The neighbouring communes include:

• Billy-le-Grand to the north
• Trépail to the north-west
• Ambonnay to the west
• Isse and Aigny to the south and south-west
• Les Grandes-Loges to the south and south-east
• Livry-Louvercy to the east

Viticulture and landscape

Vaudemange is classified neither as grand cru nor as premier cru, and the commune does not look like a place thick with vineyards either. Around 95 per cent of the land is used for agriculture, and about 92 per cent of that is arable. Permanent crops, which include vines, make up barely three per cent. If you are looking for champagne here, you will find it more readily next door: Ambonnay, immediately to the west, is one of the famous grand cru villages, and Bouzy, with its weather station, is only about six kilometres away.

“The extremes range from 41.2 °C on 25 July 2019 to minus 20.5 °C on 16 January 1985.

The climate is that of the region: the mean annual temperature at this station between 1991 and 2020 was 11.5 °C, with rainfall of a good 687 millimetres a year. The extremes range from 41.2 °C on 25 July 2019 to minus 20.5 °C on 16 January 1985. For growers, swings like these, above all late frost and heat, are a constant concern.

The canal and the history of the name

The canal from the Marne to the Aisne runs through the commune. It links Berry-au-Bac with Condé-sur-Marne, is 58 kilometres long and was built from 1842. Since 1866, Reims has had access to the Marne via this canal. Once it was connected to the Marne-Rhine canal in 1861, a continuous waterway emerged that joined Strasbourg with Lille. Between 1878 and 1883 the canal was brought up to the Freycinet gauge.

Cattier Champagner Keller

The name of the village has changed often over the centuries. Early records give Vallis Dominica (1090) and Val-Dommange (1227), and the form Vaudemange first appears in 1344. Until a decree of 21 December 1999, the commune was still called Vaudemanges, with an s at the end. Since 31 March 2017 it has belonged to the arrondissement of Reims, having previously been part of Châlons-en-Champagne.

What to see

The one building the source names is the church of Saint-Hippolyte. For visitors, Vaudemange is hardly more than a short stop, but it makes a quiet base. From here it is only a few minutes to the wine villages of the southern Montagne de Reims, where you can visit growers and taste.