The Champagne cru ladder (échelle des crus) no longer exists. What remains of it are two labelling terms, “grand cru” and “premier cru”, which the product specification of the Champagne AOC reserves for a closed list of 17 and 42 communes in the Marne, with no percentage at all.
This page traces what the ladder was, from its creation in 1911 to its abandonment in the early 2000s, and sets out what survives of it in the law of the appellation. It summarises a documentary study published under a DOI, with the sourced list of the 59 communes released as open data.
What was the Champagne cru ladder?
A price scale. Each wine-growing commune was given a percentage, applied to the reference price of grapes: a commune “at 100%” was paid the full price, a commune at 90% received 90% of that price. The Union des Maisons de Champagne dates its invention to 1911. According to J.-L. Barbier, this first ladder, drawn up by the Champagne houses, ranked 194 crus in the Marne and the Aisne, from 100% down to 22.55%. The growers' and houses' unions agreed on a common ladder in 1919.
Three notions must be kept apart. The cru ladder is the price scale, now abandoned. The terms “grand cru” and “premier cru” are labelling terms, still in force. In Champagne, the cru is the wine-growing commune, the unit of classification. A commune's historical percentage no longer has any effect on the price of grapes.
How did the ladder set the price of grapes?
A decree-law of 1935 set up a commission to fix minimum prices by category of cru, made binding by prefectoral order. The law of 12 April 1941 created the Comité interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne (CIVC) and, in its wording at the time, gave it the task of studying and proposing prices.
In the early 1980s, according to the Union des Maisons de Champagne:
- the price of grapes is calculated on the basis of 36% of the average bottle price, adjusted by a market coefficient capped at 10%;
- the twelve crus rated at 100% are paid the base price, the other communes the percentage the ladder gives them;
- the bottom of the ladder rises from 70% in 1945 to 80% from the 1981 harvest onwards;
- the price is set each year within the CIVC, where growers and houses are equally represented, then made binding by prefectoral order.
| Date | Step |
|---|---|
| 1911 | First ladder, drawn up by the Champagne houses: 194 crus, from 100% to 22.55% |
| 1935 to 1941 | Binding minimum prices, then creation of the CIVC |
| 1 July 1952 | Decree reserving “grand cru” for communes at 100% and “premier cru” for those from 90 to 100% |
| 1985 | From 12 to 17 communes at 100% (secondary sources) |
| 1990 | End of binding prices; indicative price |
| 2000 to 2004 | Indicative price abandoned, then the ladder itself |
| 22 November 2010 | First product specification: the terms rest on a list of communes |
| 31 July 2025 | Specification in force: 17 and 42 communes |
Where do the terms “grand cru” and “premier cru” come from?
From the decree of 1 July 1952, published in the Journal officiel of 5 July 1952. It amends article 4 of the decree of 29 June 1936 on the Champagne AOC: the term “premier cru” is reserved for wines from communes “classified from 100 to 90 per cent inclusive”, the term “grand cru” for those “classified at 100 per cent”. The rule was later carried over into article 11 of the same decree, until its repeal in 2010.
The number of communes at 100% rose from twelve in the early 1980s to seventeen today. Two concurring secondary sources place this change in 1985, with the promotion of Chouilly, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger, Oiry and Verzy. The 1985 decision itself is not available online: it belonged to the interprofessional ladder, not to a text published in the Journal officiel.
Why did the ladder disappear?
The sources agree on the sequence of events, with differences in dates. Binding prices ended with the 1990 harvest and gave way to an indicative price, itself abandoned around 2000. The Union des Maisons de Champagne refers to pressure from a liberal Europe; J.-L. Barbier links the abandonment to European competition law. The sources place the abandonment of the ladder between 2003 and 2004.
Two points are established by the texts. Article 8 of the 1941 law, in its wording in force since 2005, no longer mentions any price-setting task. Decree no. 2010-1441 of 22 November 2010 approves the first product specification of the Champagne AOC and repeals the articles of the 1936 decree that carried the 1952 rule: the terms no longer rest on a percentage, but on a list of communes.
What does the product specification say today?
The specification in force, approved by the order of 31 July 2025, allows the terms “grand cru” and “premier cru” for wines made from grapes harvested in 17 communes of the Marne, and the term “premier cru” alone for 42 other communes. The name of the commune may be added to these terms when all the grapes come from it.
- Closed list, with no percentage: no rate and no intermediate ranking.
- No distinction by grape variety: Tours-sur-Marne is among the 17 “grand cru” communes without restriction, although in the early 1980s it was rated at 100% for black grapes only.
- By commune: no part of a commune and no named locality (lieu-dit) is singled out.
- Stability: the draft amendment approved by the INAO national committee on 18 June 2026, submitted to the national objection procedure, keeps the same lists under the same names.
What happens to the terms in merged communes?
Three new communes bring together communes of different rank: Aÿ-Champagne (Ay, grand cru; Bisseuil and Mareuil-sur-Ay, premier cru), Blancs-Coteaux (Oger, grand cru; Vertus and Voipreux, premier cru) and Val de Livre (Louvois, grand cru; Tauxières, premier cru).
Several factors point towards the terms being kept within the boundaries of the former communes. Delegated communes keep the name and territorial boundaries of the former communes (article L. 2113-10 of the French general code of local authorities). The product specification, approved after these new communes were created, still refers to the former communes by name. No INAO opinion dealing specifically with this point has been found, however.
What remains to be established
- The 1985 interprofessional decision and the list of upgraded crus, kept on paper at the Archives départementales de la Marne.
- The exact date the ladder was abandoned and the decision that recorded it.
- The percentage of each commune in the last published ladder.
Frequently asked questions
How many grand crus are there in Champagne?
Seventeen communes, all in the Marne, may use the term “grand cru” under the product specification approved in 2025. Forty-two other communes may use the term “premier cru” only.
Does the cru ladder still exist?
No. The price scale was abandoned in the early 2000s. Since 2010, the terms “grand cru” and “premier cru” have rested on a list of communes written into the product specification, with no percentage.
Did a “premier cru” commune range from 90 to 99%?
The 1952 decree reserved the term “premier cru” for communes classified “from 100 to 90 per cent inclusive”: communes at 100% could therefore use it too. This is still the case: “grand cru” communes may use the term “premier cru”.
Does a merger of communes change the rank of a vineyard?
The available evidence indicates that it does not: the product specification still designates the former communes by their names and boundaries. No written confirmation from INAO has been found.
How to cite this page
Short form: “Observatoire VITACEAE, based on the product specification of the Champagne AOC”, November 2026 edition.
Full form: VITACEAE, The Champagne cru ladder, 1911 to 2026, Observatoire VITACEAE, November 2026 edition. Permanent address: https://vitaceae.fr/en/vineyard-market-data/champagne-cru-ladder/ (accessed DD/MM/YYYY). French version: L'échelle des crus de Champagne.
Reference study (in French): Petit, P. (2026). L'échelle des crus de Champagne, de 1911 à 2026 : du barème de prix du raisin aux mentions Grand Cru et Premier Cru (version 1.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.24056579 Collection: VITACEAE Observatory community on Zenodo.
Open data (CC BY 4.0 licence): list of the 59 communes and INSEE codes on Figshare and data.gouv.fr, as well as on GitHub, Hugging Face and Kaggle.
Other deposits of the study: KC Works, SocArXiv and HAL (record under moderation).
Reproduction permitted provided the source is cited as “Observatoire VITACEAE, based on the product specification of the Champagne AOC”, with a link to this page. This document is published for economic information purposes. It is not legal, tax or wealth-management advice, nor a valuation. VITACEAE, RCS Reims 823 282 637, CPI 5102 2016 000 014 113 (CCI Marne-Ardennes).