What’s the difference between Champagne and Cremant?
About 200 kilometers, and thousands of years of French bureaucracy and law.
In France, Champagne refers solely to the sparkling wine made in the Champagne region. The very word conjures up more images about wine, and life, than any other word that deals with alcoholic beverages. French law, bolstered by the Treaty of Versailles, defines the district, its geography and its products.
We were in Burgundy a decade or so ago, at a region-wide tasting, and a few winemakers were showing off a sparkling wine labeled Cremant, made in Burgundy, Alsace and a few other areas. I was not impressed at the time, finding the bubbly too sweet for my palate. Now, the wine is improving – to me, anyway — and the term is gaining wider access, being used in the Languedoc and some other districts in the south of France. And some of it is being shipped to the U. S., and even to St. Louis, where Glazer is the distributor.
It is vinified and aged just like Champagne, using the same grapes and maybe a few others. Classic Champagne uses Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Cremant may have a touch of Gamay, or of another grape or two that grow in the region. And that’s another difference between Champagne and Cremant. The latter is not limited to the three classic grapes, giving the winemaker a chance to play with flavor or texture.
I sampled three Cremants recently from Simonnet-Febvre, a producer in Chablis, the Chardonnay capital of France and home of some of the greatest of white Burgundies. Simonnet-Febvre, one of those younger French wineries (only around since 1840), makes a Brut, or dry sparkler that is 60 percent Chardonnay and 40 percent Pinot Noir, a Brunt Pinot Noir that is 100 percent of the named grape, as is a Brut Rose.
All three were extremely dry (another Champagne peculiarity is that Brut means dry while Extra Dry means semi-sweet) and all were bursting with fruit. The Cremant Rose was exceptional, with a wonderful cherry essence and a small, tight bubble that exploded in the mouth. Despite the fruit, it was delightfully dry, but stood up nicely to a spicy dinner of shrimp curry. The other two were delicious, bone dry and on the austere side, but with fine grape flavor and the delicious fizz that makes sparkling wines so special.
Cremant. Give it a try, and if the local wine merchant does not carry it, call the distributor.
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MEDALS FOR MISSOURI WINEMAKERS: St. James Winery took home four gold medals and Stone Hill Winery earned another as the two Missouri wineries took home a total of 30 medals at the recent Grand Harvest wine competition in Santa Rosa, Calif. The contest is sponsored by Vineyard & Winery Management magazine/
Ten of the medals were in the Missouri wine category, with gold for Stone Hill’s 2008 Traminette and St. James’ 2005 Norton Dessert Wine. St. James also earned four silver and five bronze, while Stone Hill took home two silver and three bronze.
In the "American wine" category, a label which permits the winery to use grapes grown in other states, St. James earned gold medals for its sweet Blackberry, Strawberry and Concord wines while also collecting six silver and three bronze medals.
Estate-bottled wines from Hermann provided another pair of medals for Stone Hill, silver for the 2005 Norton and bronze for the 2005 Norton from the Cross J vineyard.
The contest, now 19 years old, attracts entrants from throughout the wine world, and the wines are judged by regional classification, a far more level playing field.
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RECENT TASTINGS: The Chalk Hill appellation of Sonoma County, just east of Healdsburg, is home to some of California’s outstanding wines and wineries. We recently tasted some fine red wines from Chateau Felice, where winemaker Tami Collins creates Bordeaux-style blends and smooth, flavorful single-grape wines like an estate-bottled Cabernet Franc that is a real treat. The 2004 vintage, with an aroma and flavor of black cherries, also shows sweet notes of tobacco and benefits from outstanding balance. When there’s need of a change from the more traditional Cabernet Sauvignon, this is a treat.
The proprietary labels includes 2005 London Cab, blending Cabernet Sauvignon (58 percent), Merlot (34) and Cabernet Franc (8); and 2002 American Celebration, with Cabernet Sauvignon (70), Merlot (20) and Cabernet Franc (10). The latter, taking advantage of lovely aging quality, is, of course, richer and deeper, with red plums and eucalyptus on the palate. Interestingly, they are at opposite ends of the winery’s price range, with the younger wine about $20 and the older about $40. The other Chateau Felice wines are between those limits.
In addition, Collins makes two different Chardonnays, one labeled Acier and created solely in stainless steel, without malolactic fermentation. The estate-bottled version, more in the California tradition, is more buttery, with malolactic fermentation and some time in oak. And fortunately, I caught a typographical error in the press release which noted that the wine had an aroma of leeches, when I’m certain someone meant lychees
-Joe
Comments
3 responses
I’ve been a fan (make that “superfan” ; )) of Cremant Rose since trying a bottle of Lucien Albrecht Cremant d’Alsace Brut Rose at Aixois in Kansas City. It is darn difficult to locate, though (particularly here in Columbia), so if you know of a StL source, I’d love to hear about it! (NOTE: Marques de Gelida Cava Rose makes for a reasonably acceptable substitute, although the Lucien Albrecht has more panache…)
You might try the Wine and Cheese Place here in St. Louis, and if that fails, call Glaser, the distributors locally.
Thanks for the tip — I’ll check them out next time we’re in town.