Avenay-Val-d'Or

Avenay-Val-d'Or sits on south-facing slopes above Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, on a substantial vineyard area heavily planted to Pinot Noir. In the seventeenth century the village was a still-wine star, and Avenay's wines reportedly outranked Aÿ and Mareuil in the royal Paris markets of the day. The reputation faded as the modern Champagne style took over, and today the village's fruit goes mostly into the blends of the major Reims houses, where it serves as a quiet structural component rather than as an identifiable single-village Champagne. A small group of growers has emerged in recent decades, including a biodynamic estate that has begun to revisit the village's older traditions.