Most of the Grand Crus are visible on the right side of the map, following the tree line down to the Marne river. For one, each of those regions that are known for something all have significant exceptions. There are villages or even entire sub-regions that are dominated by other grape varieties. Many times the exceptions are driven by changes in soils and topography. This will consequentially impact the styles of wines coming from these areas. Understanding the exceptions—and why they are exceptions—is vital to having a sharper knowledge about Champagne.
Union des Maisons de Champagne website which notes that there are actually 17 regions in Champagne and gives planting details. Seriously, if you love Champagne, you need to bookmark this page.
Now would be a good time to have a map like this of the villages handy to follow the geekery. The superlative about the Montagne de Reims is that the area produces powerful Pinot noir-based Champagne.
Champagne from the northern Grand Cru of Mailly. But the Montagne de Reims is far from monolithic. The Grand Crus on the north and eastern segment Mailly, Verzenay, Verzy, Beaumont-sur-Vesle, Puisieulx and Sillery have mostly north-facing slopes which produce distinctly different Pinots than those from the south-facing slopes of Ambonnay, Bouzy and Louvois. While the northern Pinots are still powerful, the root of their power comes more from their firm structure.
Among their southern brethren, that power comes from the rich depth of fruit. This is why you see more still red Coteaux Champenois coming from these southern Grand Crus. These Montagne de Reims Chardonnays, grown in prime Pinot noir territory, have more depth and body which puts their own unique imprint on a wine. Here they catch the gentle morning sun before the heat of the day. While there is a deep bed of chalk throughout the Montagne de Reims, its influences are felt more keenly in the very thin topsoils of these premier crus.
