Other French Sparkling (Cremant) Flashcards
Crémant
“Regional French traditional method sparkling wines
made outside of the Champagne region”
How many Crémant regions are there?
8, the book focuses on 3 (+ 2 subregions)
What are the main Crémant regions and subregions?
”- Alsace
- Bourgogne
- Loire (+ AOC Saumur and AOC Vouvray)”
Common features of Crémant
”- Hand harvesting
- Whole bunch pressing
- Max yield at pressing is set low-ish
- Min 12 months maturation between tirage and release (including min 9 months on lees)
- Max 13% ABV
- Min 4 atmospheres pressure”
Alsace - by numbers
”- 25% of the regions production
- 500 producers (small)
- 15% growth in vineyard area in 10 years”
Alsace - Grape Varieties
”- Pinot Blanc (most important)
- Auxerrois
- Chardonnay
- Riesling
- Pinot Gris
- Pinot Noir (makes rosé)”
Alsace - Pinot Blanc
”- Early budding
- Early ripening
- Prone to spring frost, fungal diseases
- Aromas of apples and pears
- High acidity”
Alsace - Climate
Sunny continental
Alsace - Climate description
”- Often dry and hot during growing season
- Shortage of water, spring frost, and rain at harvest can be an issue
- Great dirunal range gives flavor ripeness w/ acidity”
Alsace - Site location
”- Eastern flanks of the Vosges mountains (200 - 400m) which protects vineyards from prevailing westerly winds
- Best sites reserved for still wines
- P. Blanc grown at high alt cool sites where grapes struggle to ripen or on fertile flat lands like Munster Valley where cool airflow helps to retain acidity”
Alsace - Vineyard management
”- Pruned for greater crop load than still (as they don’t need high flavor concentration)
- Max yields similar to Champagne
- Growers must declare in July that they’re doing to make Crémant
- Harvest is early (late Aug, early Sept) to get just-ripe fruit
- Harvest by hand
- Mandatory whole bunch press (for low phenolic content)”
Alsace - Winemaking
”- Grapes from single vintage (no reserve wine)
- Chapitalise must (due to low potential alcohol)
- Traditional Method
- 12 months on lees (better producers do more)
- 8 to 10 g/L dosage for Brut (to balance high acidity)”
Alsace - Rosé
Maceration on the skins for 12 - 24 hours
Alsace - Market
”- 43% Coops, 37% merchant houses, 20% independent growers
- Big names: Maison Bestheim, Valentin Zusslin, Muré
- 80% sold in France”
Alsace - Crémant d’Alsace Emotion
”- Top quality category for Alsace sparkling wine
- Min 75% Pinot Blanc, Chard, and PN (seperately or together)
- Min 24 months on lees
- New category has not been very popular”
Bourgogne - Intro
”- 10% of wine in the region is Crémant
- Chardonnay is most used variety
- Production has doubled
- Winemakers must declare that they’re making Crémant by March”
Bourgogne - Style
”- Brut
- M+ to H acid
- M intensity in fruit
- Apple + Lemon (cooler areas), Apricot (warmer) + Brioche
- BdB, BdN, Rosé made”
Bourgogne - Appelation Boundary
same as Bourgogne AOC
Bourgogne - Sources of Fruit (From South to North)
”- Mâconnais for Chard (Côte Chalonnaise by Rully)
- Beaujolais
- Côte d’Or (flatland vineyards)
- Chablis (Yonne dept + Châtillon-sur-Seine just S of Champ)
- Hautes Côtes de Beaune + Hautes Côtes de Nuits
- *areas are cooler and vineyard areas are cheaper”
Bourgogne - Climate (ranges)
”- North: Cool (i.e. no distinct hot, dry summer period), vines face S or S/E to be able to ripen (warmth + light)
- Central: Continental (cold winter, dry/sunny summers) which produce just-ripe fruit
- South: Mediterranean (v warm summers) which produce riper fruit character, lower acidity”
Bourgogne - Hazards
”- Summer storms in the South
- Hail, spring frost, fungal disease, esca”
Bourgogne - Grapes
”- PN*
- Chard*
- Aligoté, Gamay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Melon Blanc”
Bougogne - Winemaking
”- Early harvested fruit
- MLF optional”
Bourgogne - Crémant de B Blanc
”- Min 30% Chard, PN, PB, PG either alone or in the blend
- Max 20% Gamay”
Bourgogne - Market
”- 66% merchant houses, 30% Coops, 2% independent
- 10 companies responsible for 90% of volume
- 40% exports and growing”
Bourgogne - Crémant de Bourgogne Eminent
Additional lees-ageing requirement of 24 month
Bourgogne - Crémant de Bourgogne Grand Eminent
”- whites: PN and Chard only
- rosé: only 20 per cent of Gamay is allowed
- a vintage is optional (but common)
- min of 36 months’ lees ageing and
- 3 months in the bottle before release
- Brut only”
Loire - Sparkling Wine Appelations
”- 7 total, 3 covered in book
- Crémant de Loire
- sparkling Vouvray
- sparkling Saumur”
Loire - intro
”- 13% of Loire production
- Major Loire co’s are owned by Champagne houses
- 90% of Crémant de Loire is white
- Producers must declare in July to make Crémant”
Loire - Flavor Profile
“*Chenin dominant:
- M intensity
- Apple + citrus w/ light toasty autolytic notes
- honeyed aromas in 2yr or 3yr old wine
- High acidity
- Brut (demi-sec, brut nature too)”
Loire - Regions
”- Middle Loire districts: Anjou-Saumur + Touraine (only)
- Surround Loire River + tributaries which moderate temp
- S + W of Saumur source the most fruit for Crémant”
Loire - Climate
- Cool
Loire - Climate Description
”- Atlantic ocean extends cool, mild influence through to the center of Touraine (most of the area set for Crémant)
- Risks: Fungal disease, untimely rain”
Loire - Soils
”- Overall good drainage + water retention
- Range: clay-limestone, flint-clay, sand, gravel, tuff
- Soils w/ excessive clay = too cold, not classified in AOC
- Anjou = more schist + limestone
- Touraine = more chalk”
Loire - Sites
”- Less well-exposed w/ higher proportion of clay than for still wines
- Need rootstocks tolerant to high lime content in soils”
Loire - Grape varieties
”- Chenin Blanc*
- Cab Franc <3
- Cab Sauv
- Grolleau Noir + Gris
- Pineau d’Aunis
- *Sauv Blanc is not allowed = too aromatic”
Loire - Winemaking
”- Pneumatic press (gentle = low phenolics)
- 1st Ferm in Stainless (oak not desired)
- MLF optional
- Blending wines from different areas within CdLoire (not often using reserve wines)
- min 9 months on lees “
Loire - Prestige de Loire
”- New top tier by InterLoire to establish higher price
- White only from Chenin, Cab F, Chard, PN
- Min 24 months on lees
- Vintage dated
- Brut, Brut Nature, Extra Brut
- Environmental sustainability standards”
Loire - Industry
”- 19 merchant houses (9 houses = 80% volume)
- 10 Coops
- 400 producers
- 50% sold in france/domestic
- Big names: Ackerman, Bouvet-Ladubay, Veuve-Amiot, Langlois-Chateau”
Loire - Saumur Mousseux
”- 60% Chenin Blanc min, 10% Sauv Blanc max
- Rosé = 60% Cab F min, 10% Sauv Blanc max
- Harvest by machine allowed (more juice can be extracted than in Crémant)”
Loire - Vouvray Mousseux
”- Chenin Blanc (must be majority)
- Orbois (only other permitted grape, minority)
- Production rules similar to Saumur
- Vouvray Pétillant + Pet Nat produced, too”
Loire - Why make sparkling?
”- Less risk as grapes can be picked early at lower minimum ripeness (avoiding the possibility of late season rain or botrytis spoiling or reducing the crop)
- Permitted yields are higher than for still AOC wine.”
