Location and landscape
Tours-sur-Marne is a commune in the Marne department in the region of Champagne of the Grand Est region. The municipal territory covers 23.51 km² and lies on the Marne as well as on the Marne side canal.
The area includes the alluvial valley of the Marne, adjacent chalky slopes and plateaus of the Côte d’Île-de-France. The natural areas include, among other things, former gravel pits, riparian woodlands, damp meadows, chalk grasslands and a chalk-bearing elevation.
Vine growing
Tours-sur-Marne belongs to the Grande Vallée de Marne sector in the Vallée de la Marne wine-growing area. The vineyard area comprises 52.30 hectares and is farmed by 48 winegrowers. Of this, 37.00 hectares are devoted to Pinot Noir, 15.20 hectares to Chardonnay and 0.10 hectares to other grape varieties.
After the product specification for Champagne homologated on 31 July 2025, wines from Tours-sur-Marne may carry the additional designation Grand Cru if the grapes are harvested within the commune. Approved varieties include, among others, Arbane, Chardonnay, Chardonnay rosé, Meunier, Petit Meslier, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir; Voltis is admitted as an adaptation variety under certain conditions.
Champagne and production
Champagne wines are white or rosé sparkling wines. They can be produced as vintage or non-vintage wines; white wines may be made from white and black grapes, from exclusively white grapes, or from exclusively black grapes.
Production takes place exclusively through a second fermentation in the glass bottle. During disgorging, the fermentation sediment is removed. Before being released to consumers, a minimum maturation period of 15 months from bottling is required; for vintage wines, 36 months.
History
The first recorded mention of Tours-sur-Marne dates from 886 and reads Turris super Maternam fluvium. Later, the place was a divided lordship between the monks of the chapter of Saint-Maurice and secular lords.
In the First World War, among other things, the bridge and the wash barge were destroyed. In 1923, Tours-sur-Marne received the Croix de guerre.
