Vertus

Vertus lies below vineyard slopes in Champagne, a town once protected by walls and a castle of the counts of Champagne. Its vineyards were recorded in the twelfth century, and its red wine had a considerable reputation in the later Middle Ages. The town became the centre of a county created by King John II for his daughter Isabelle and her husband Gian Galeazzo Visconti.

In 1380 English troops burned Vertus despite its fortifications, sparing the abbey of Saint-Martin. The poet Eustache Deschamps lamented the destruction and recalled the renown of the local wine. Later wars again made the town's defences important: in the second half of the sixteenth century the inhabitants organized a careful watch over their gates and walls.