Crémant d'Alsace is the appellation for white and rosé Sparkling wines from the Alsace wine region in northeastern France. Introduced in August 1976, the appellation now accounts for about a quarter of the region's production, or about 45 million bottles per year, up from 31 million in 2009. Outside of Champagne (240km to the west), it is the dominant French sparkling wine appellation, with more than half of all crémant production. The cooperatives are the most important players, with Wolfberger alone producing 6 to 7 million bottles.
But many of the region's most prestigious estates produce sparkling wines. As with all French Crémant appellations, the traditional method is used to make Crémant d'Alsace. The wines must spend a minimum of nine months maturing on their lees to ensure a certain level of complexity. This ageing on the lees gives the wines a toasty, nutty, sometimes flinty Character.
Pinot Blanc is a grape variety that originated in Burgundy, mutated from Pinot Gris. Today, it is grown in Alsace where it is called klevner when blended with auxerrois. The continental climate, with its cold winters and hot summers, is particularly suited to pinot blanc. It is resistant to frost in winter and in summer, the roots draw the minerals it needs from the warm soil. Its bunches are made up of small berries with thick skins and melting pulp that produce fruity, spicy wines, balanced between acidity and alcohol. pinot blanc is also used for crémants and sparkling wines. Pinot Blanc is also used for Crémant and sparkling wines. It is widely grown in Italy, where it covers almost 7,000 hectares, and is also found in Germany, Austria, Canada and South Africa.
sparkling wines from the region of Crémant d'Alsace go well with generally quite well with dishes of shellfish, poultry or appetizers and snacks such as recipes of violet omelette, turkey blanquette with mushrooms or baked salmon steaks.
On the nose in the region of Crémant d'Alsace often reveals types of flavors of citrus, grapefruit or tropical fruit and sometimes also flavors of mango, raspberry or baked apple. In the mouth in the region of Crémant d'Alsace is a powerful with a nice vivacity and a fine and pleasant bubble.
France’s 2022 wine harvest is likely to be between 42.6 million and 45.6m hectolitres, up by 13% to 21% on the frost-hit 2021 vintage and more in-line with the country’s five-year average. One hectolitre is equivalent to 100 litres. Yet drought could impact on yields in the coming weeks, adding extra uncertainty in several regions, said the French agriculture ministry’s Agreste statistics unit. Expected vintage quality isn’t covered by the preliminary outlook. It added the 2022 growing season is ...
Disconcerting: I couldn’t forget this bottle for days afterwards. Still can’t. Back in August, wine critic Lin Liu MW (together with her partner Philippe Lejeune of Château de Chambert in Cahors) came to dinner, en route to a short holiday in Provence. One of the bottles Lin brought for us to try together was the 2018 Les Rocheuses, Parcelles No 5 et 6, from Château Le Rey in Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux. It came in a slope-shouldered bottle, not a classic Bordeaux bottle. We tried it with some R ...
‘Platinum is very hard-fought’ says co-chair Sarah Jane Evans MW. ‘It’s like something in the Premier League’, she adds, ‘but getting there means it’s going to be something special.’ The Decanter World Wine Awards judging process for Platinum begins after a meticulous first round of tasting, where all entries – this year a record 18,250 – are examined by regional specialists to determine Bronze, Silver, Gold or no award. All wines awarded 95 points (a Gold med ...
