Timbers of Champagne

THERE is more to the Champagne region of France than vineyards. The territory that produces bubbly also has a considerable proportion of forests and woodlands. The Forêt de la Montagne de Reims lies between the official capital Reims and the main attraction for wine buffs, the affluent town of Épernay. St Imoge is a pretty ‘Champagne Route’ village standing high on the plateau amongst the ash woods. Oak is found up there too; it all depends upon the type of soil.

In the forest’s Val d’Or (Golden Valley) the hamlet of Germaine has private productive woodlands and a forestry museum. Germaine lies on the north-facing flank of the valley; vines belonging to the celebrated vintners Moët et Chandon cloak the opposite side in orderly rows. Exposed to the warmest of the sun’s rays, the Pinot Noir grapes slowly ripen while the steady whine of chainsaws hard at work echoes from the surrounding woods.

Up at Hameau de Vauremont the well-tended Pinot Noir vines of the exclusive Moët et Chandon champagne house ripen on the chalky south-facing slopes. Surrounding the various vineyards, well-managed mixed forests still provide regular employment for woodcutters.

Not all of the timber standing in this forested zone is of marketable quality; there are a number of arboricultural curiosities to be discovered. The ‘Remarkable Oak’ stands at Montigny in the Marne Valley. This venerable bole is, in fact, two trees – an oak and a beech fused together, their crowns entwined for centuries. But some of the beeches growing on the eastern escarpment of the Montagne de Reims are certainly older.

At first glance the trees comprising the Faux de Verzy could be mistaken for rhododendron bushes. Their squat, dense domes are supported by twisted and gnarled corkscrew trunks. Rarely topping a few metres in height, the oldest amongst them are estimated to be around 500 years old. Whether their form is the result of some mutation or due to some quirk of this small area of Champagne’s soil is still open to debate. Records indicate that these anomalies of nature have survived here for at least fifteen hundred years.

The sawmill at Ervy-le-Châtel is an historic monument. It was founded by Arsène Couvreur in the early twentieth century. The French Ministry of Culture has awarded it industrial heritage status.

South of Épernay, the Montagne de Reims is reflected in yet another well-wooded plateau; the Côte des Blancs, where the white grape Chardonnay is grown on the most suitable soils. The vines of the valley of the River Marne itself are usually of the black Pinot Meunier variety. The real essence of Champagne is often said to have been perfected by the monk Dom Pérignon, who blended “lightness and elegance, body and long life, and flowery aromas”.

The Champagne region itself is a not dissimilar mix. Leaving the vineyards and the vast limestone caverns where the wines mature and travelling up the Marne valley, the shabbiness of some of the hamlets suggests the wealth to be accrued from growing enormous quantities of cereals and cabbages in no way matches that to be earned by cultivation of the grape. Even so, there was a time when the extensive floodplain, broken only by a few sparse Scots pine plantations, served wandering shepherds and their flocks.

In the Montagne de Reims the beeches growing in the Faux de Verzy are unusual to say the least. Some of the trees have stood for 500 years, but given their contorted trunks, are only a couple of metres in height. The public can view the dwarf trees from a circular, fenced walkway. Wandering at will is not permitted as the trees’ root systems are thought to be sensitive to soil compaction.

When hostilities ended in the mid 1940s a large proportion of the plain’s cream-coloured soils were put to the plough. As it happens, the largest areas of woodland cover on the plain today are to be found on the four vast training grounds of the Ministry of Defence of France.

Settlements such as Châlons-en-Champagne and Vitry-le-François on the banks of the Marne are not highly rated for their attractions.  But although some of the roadside habitations are dilapidated, the views of the farmland edging the river, the canal and the railway are not unpleasant. Poplars lend their own brand of charm to this type of landscape and under French law the trees are cultivated as an agricultural crop.

There is still a ready market for poplar which is grown as an agricultural crop. The timber not only finds use in pallet production and as cheap plywood, but is an ideal material for matches and packaging. A proportion goes for paper production and biomass. Some sixty enterprises across France rely on the timber.

From its source near the town of Langres, the Marne flows through more heavily wooded country before meeting Champagne’s chalky soils north of St Dizier. Known as Champagne humide, the area’s clay soils support large forests mainly of oak, beech and hornbeam.  Among these, the Fôret de Châteauvillain et d’Arc has a curious history. 

One of the most extensive forest holdings in France, it came into the possession of the royal household in 1696. After a brief spell of public ownership following the French Revolution, it was returned to the Duchess of Orleans in 1814 and remained in the family’s hands for about 160 years thereafter. Primarily a hunting forest, the sport was administered by various management syndicates associated with aristocratic families. However, during WWII the numbers of boar and deer attracted the attention of the German military and the forest was requisitioned for the entertainment of high-ranking officers.

In the départment of Haute-Marne beech logs take the road toward the Burgundy border. The driver has just passed through the hamlet of Rouvres-sur-Aube; the name Rouvre comes from the Latin robur meaning oak. The sessile oak is still known in France as chêne rouvre.

Despite the number of family members involved in the ownership of the Fôret de Châteauvillain et d’Arc, by the late 1950s the majority of the shares were held by the Duchess of Aosta and Princess Murat. In the early 1970s over 15,000 ha of one of Champagne’s most famous oak woods was offered for sale. Ultra-wealthy prospective buyers arrived from America, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg. The hunting was what interested them and for a while it appeared that the forest would be broken up. Unwilling to let this happen, the French government stepped in and purchased the forest for the nation.

Stonemasons in Troyes – Champagne’s ancient capital – built the city’s great Gothic cathedral. Generations of French kings had been crowned in the magnificent cathedral at Reims, but after his victory at Agincourt and his marriage to Catherine of France, Henry V became heir to the French throne in Troyes. Troyes and Reims were indeed important cities and no expense was spared on religious architecture. No half-timbered churches remain in Troyes today, but modest timber-built churches still survive in the surrounding countryside. As far as non-spiritual buildings are concerned, the streets of old Troyes abound with sensitively restored medieval and Renaissance half-timbered structures.

According to the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) 32 per cent of France’s 16,400,000 ha of forest are oak. Most of the trees were planted and are managed under the futaie régulière system. The slower-growing trees are gradually removed until only the fastest-growing and straightest remain.

Beyond Troyes the vineyards give way to apple orchards as the land rises. But the cider industry occupies only a small percentage of the area, most of which is given over to agriculture and forestry. The road into Ervy-le-Châtel has long been dominated by the neighbourhood sawmill. The facility’s machinery may not be ultra-modern but the substantial oaks awaiting attention in its yard are generally of good form.

Ervy-le-Châtel’s market hall has an unusual design. So much so, in fact, that it is unique in Europe. Dating from the mid 19th century, the half-timbered and nogged building is constructed of sweet chestnut. Today it serves as a tourist information office and exhibition centre.

Ervy-le-Châtel’s public market building has a distinctive appearance. Circular in shape and three storeys high, the half-timbering of the upper floors is nogged (inlaid with small bricks). Round timbers support the awning that gives protection from both summer’s heat and winter rain. Judging from their spiral grain, the pillars are fashioned from sweet chestnut.

When it comes to history, a true veteran of Champagne stands a few kilometres north of Ervy-le-Châtel. A sessile oak thought to be 800 years old survives in the forest near to Vosnon. Dubbed the Pied Cornier, its name gives a clue as to why it has endured for so long.  There was a time when large trees marked the corner of a coupe. Known as pieds corniers they were protected by forest law.

In January 1518 Messrs. Duprat and Chancelier laid down in antiquated French the regulations intended to preserve the country’s timber stocks. In order to increase their profits, merchants were often suspected of removing the corner trees, which were marked with a hammer, and re-marking others to increase their sale area. First offenders convicted of this crime were fined a sum of 30 Parisian pounds as well as being obliged to compensate for the loss of timber. A second offence saw them banned for life from the forests. “As regards our officers, should they commit these crimes they will be condemned to the double of the fine, subjected to corporal punishment, deprived of their positions and banished forever from our forests.”

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