Other French Sparkling (Cremant) Flashcards
(42 cards)
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”
