Villers-Marmery

Location at the eastern end of the Montagne de Reims

Villers-Marmery lies on the eastern edge of the Montagne de Reims, about 23 kilometres south-east of Reims. The village belongs to the Marne département in the Grand Est region and to the Montagne de Reims Regional Nature Park. Administratively it falls within the Arrondissement of Reims and, since 2014, within the Communauté de communes Vesle et Coteaux de la Montagne de Reims. According to figures from 1 January 2023, 579 people live here.

Its neighbours are well-known champagne villages of the area:

• Verzy to the north and west
• Trépail to the south and south-west
• Billy-le-Grand to the south-east
• Sept-Saulx and Les Petites-Loges to the east
• Val-de-Vesle to the north and north-east

Viticulture and landscape

Villers-Marmery is classified premier cru. Part of the village's livelihood comes from grape growing and champagne production. The eastern flank of the Montagne de Reims is regarded as Chardonnay country, and this village stands for exactly that: its champagnes are marked more by freshness and tension than by power. Wine lovers often reach for blanc de blancs here.

“The extremes range from 39.8 °C in July 2019 to minus 20 °C in January 1985.

How varied the village's land is shows in the land use figures from the 2018 Corine Land Cover data. Forest makes up 37.5 per cent, arable land 32.9 per cent and permanent crops, which include the vines, 26.6 per cent. Only 3.1 per cent of the area is built up. There is no watercourse within the commune, but a watershed between two parts of the Seine catchment runs through it.

Climate

The climate is temperate and slightly modified oceanic. The nearest Météo-France station, in Mailly-Champagne, seven kilometres away, records for 1991 to 2020 an annual mean temperature of 11.2 °C and an average of 755.5 millimetres of rainfall a year. The extremes range from 39.8 °C in July 2019 to minus 20 °C in January 1985. Every grower in France's northernmost wine region knows swings like these.

Hautvillers in der ChampagneFoto: Sand~commonswiki, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons

Name and sights

The village name is recorded as Marmereium as far back as 1086. "Villers" goes back to the Gallo-Roman "villare", which derives from "villa", the large country estate.

The visible heart of the village is the church of Notre-Dame. It stands on a small rise, is surrounded by railings and has a baroque interior. Anyone wanting to explore Champagne away from the big names can easily combine a visit with a walk through the vineyards and a tasting at one of the local growers.