- Département
- Aube
- Site
- South of Champagne, near Bar-sur-Seine (Côte des Bar)
- Inhabitants
- 223 (2023)
- Source
- Wikipedia, eigene Zusammenfassung
Vitry-le-Croisé is a small village in the south of Champagne, in the Aube département near Bar-sur-Seine. Neither grand cru nor premier cru, but a place for travellers who like to stray from the well-known routes.
Location
Vitry-le-Croisé is a small commune in the Aube département, about 45 kilometres east-south-east of Troyes. It lies in the catchment area of Bar-sur-Seine and also belongs politically to the canton centred there. That puts you in the south of Champagne, in the area wine lovers know as the Côte des Bar. Since 2017 the village has been part of the Communauté de communes du Barséquanais en Champagne.
The neighbouring communes are:
- Bligny
- Champignol-lez-Mondeville
- Éguilly-sous-Bois
- Longpré-le-Sec
- Noé-les-Mallets
- Saint-Usage
The A5 autoroute runs through the commune, so getting here is straightforward.
Landscape and land use
At 32.72 square kilometres, the commune is quite large for a village of this size. The terrain rises from 221 to 347 metres. It is drained by the Arce, which rises in Saint-Usage and flows into the Seine at Bar-sur-Seine after 26 kilometres, as well as by the Fontaine d'Argent and a few smaller streams.
The 2018 land-use figures paint a rural picture: a good half of the area (52.8 per cent) is arable land, 36.7 per cent is woodland and just under 5 per cent is meadow. Permanent crops, which in France can include vineyards, make up 3.4 per cent. The source does not say what exactly grows there. In any case, Vitry-le-Croisé is not known as a wine village with a reputation of its own, and it has no grand cru or premier cru classification.
A reading of 41 °C was once taken there in 1983, and minus 21 °C in 1985.
Climate
The climate is temperate, with fresh summers. The nearest Météo-France station, at Cunfin, 14 kilometres away, recorded a mean annual temperature of 11.0 °C and around 900 millimetres of rainfall a year for 1991 to 2020. A reading of 41 °C was once taken there in 1983, and minus 21 °C in 1985. The winters are considered raw, and fog is common in autumn and winter.
The village and what to see
In 2023 Vitry-le-Croisé had exactly 223 inhabitants, around 4.7 per cent fewer than in 2017. The commune is classed as rural, with scattered housing. Of the 159 dwellings in 2022, just under 70 per cent were main residences, a good 8 per cent were second homes and 22 per cent stood empty. Almost all of them are detached houses.
The sights include:
- the church of Saint-Bénigne
- the chapel of Notre-Dame-de-Sainte-Langueur
For champagne travellers
If you are travelling through the Aube, you will find Vitry-le-Croisé more of a quiet stop on the edge of the vineyards than a destination for tastings. The village works well as a stopover on the way to Bar-sur-Seine, whose surroundings are known for champagne with the character of the Côte des Bar. The sources name no growers or champagne houses in the village itself, so please ask the growers in the neighbouring villages about visits before you set off.
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