The Cellar: Delicious, Inexpensive Sparkling Wines
Friday, October 28, 2011
When you are on vacation every occasion is a joyous occasion, agree? Well, I am on vacation these days and tasting a lot of wines as every day is like a Saturday. I am especially tasting a lot of sparkling wines, French sparkling wines and no, it is not the Champagne that is flowing freely, it is the delightful and inexpensive treat called Crémant.
Crémants are French sparkling wines produced outside the region of Champagne but made by the same method Champagne is. As you may know, only sparkling wines made a certain way, from specific grapes (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier) and inside the region of Champagne are allowed to be called "Champagne". With Crémants the rules are less strict. This results in a more plentiful and less expensive wine – ideal for everyday drinking.
True variety among the bubbles
There is certain uniformity to Champagnes, not so with Crémants. This makes shopping for good Crémants a little trickier (i.e. more fun) than shopping for Champagne. The extent to which the traditional champagne grapes are utilized depends on where the Crémants are from. Most Crémants however must be a blend of at least 30% of the traditional ‘Champagne grapes’, with the rest of the blend made from local grapes. In Burgundy for example, Crémants de Bourgogne are often blended with Aligoté. In the Loire, Crémant de Loire’s are blended with Chenin Blanc or Cabernet Franc, in Crémant de Limoux with a grape called Mauzac, and in Crémant de Alcase with Pinot Gris or Auxerrois.
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As previously mentioned Crémants are made utilizing the "traditional method". In short, this involves making a base white wine from the grapes mentioned above. This base wine is then poured into a bottle along with yeast and a combination of sugar and wine, known as liquor de triage. This ignites a second fermentation inside the bottle. Because the bottle is capped the alcohol and carbon dioxide gas, which are both byproducts of fermentation, stays inside the bottle, along with the dead yeast cells. After minimum a year of aging, the dead yeasts cells are then removed from the bottles through a crazy process called dégorgement (Google it), topped off with a reserve wine, known as liqueur d’expédition, then corked once again and finally sold. The dryness level of the finished Crémant depends on how dry or sweet the liqueur d’expédition is.
Because different grapes go into making most Crémants, the flavors often vary. The year spent in bottle allows for the many flavors to mingle and integrate with one another. The extended contact with the dead yeast cells gives the wines body and depth, and adds certain toast and/or biscuit notes.
Scout them stateside
All the grapes that make Crémants, regardless of where they are from, must be harvested by hand and the yields, meaning the grape production in tons per acre, must be lower than is required for other sparkling wines. Unfortunately, most Crémants are consumed within France with only a small portion reaching the rest of Europe or the United States, where Proseccos and Cavas seem to have cornered the under $30 sparkling wine market. This is a shame as there is a lot of quality and value in Crémants. Talk to your local wine shop about getting some in, and should you find one, be sure to grab it and as always….enjoy.
Steffen Rasch CSW is ready to answer any wine-related questions, comments or concerns you may have. Feel free to email him at [email protected]. And as always, don’t forget to follow GoLocalProv’s Wine Cellar on Facebook.
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