Paris1972-Versailles2003

Time to enjoy the best of our Earth with great company and do with what we have for those missing someone my sinceres best wishes to go forward. Of course, I like to update this older post on one of the favorite drinks of our world, the Champagne ,and its family , and the best from France, Of course, this post will be in my black and white series, no pictures, Hope you enjoy the post as I.

With 80 million bottles sold in 2018, in constant increase of 5 to 7% over the past ten years, the crémant is present in eight appellations: Alsace, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Die, Jura, Limoux, Loire, Savoie. For the crémant, the minimum duration between drawing and marketing is 9 months, against 15 for Champagne and … one month for Prosecco!, which sold 460 million bottles this year. Produced with faster and less expensive methods, this Italian wine spreads in all markets: the grape harvest is mechanical and non-manual as for the crémant, and the second alcoholic fermentation, which produces the effervescence, is done in tanks and not in the bottle as required by the traditional champenoise method. Therefore, you get what you pay for !!!

It can go by various names such as bubbly, sparkling , crémant, cava, prosecco, but better try the original Champagne and its family. Keep it in moderation , health is all we got to keep.  With 35 million bottles produced each year, Crémant d’Alsace is the first sparkling wine consumed after Champagne. Since 1976, the AOC Crémant d’Alsace has been officially recognized! But, with only 3 houses in its infancy; Dopff au Moulin, Wolfberger and La Cave de Westhalten (now part of the Bestheim group).

At the beginning of the 20C, Julien Dopff, then owner of the house Dopff au Moulin, had given a boost to Crémant d’Alsace by imagining an sparkling wine which would come close to Champagne, produced from Alsatian grape varieties, and especially on the local terroir. And Wolfberger has made its mark by multiplying the trials to try to find the grape varieties best suited to this method called “champenoise” The production of Crémant d’Alsace takes off in 1982 to never slow down again. Besides, 40% of the consumption of this sparkling wine is always made in the 3 months preceding the end of year celebrations. The Crémant now represents 27% of the total production of Alsace wines with 20% of export sales!

The official wines of Alsace on the Crémant : https://www.vinsalsace.com/en/tastes-and-colours/aoc/aoc-cremant-dalsace/

And my favorite region for wines is coming alone nicely thank you. For the past five years, the figures for Bordeaux crémants have exploded: 1,200 hectares, 50% more in two years; 75,000 hectoliters planned this year, five times more than at the beginning of 2010. In 2017, 20% of the annual sales of Bordeaux wines took place during the holiday season. With an average price between 6 and 10 euros, the crémant is mainly sold in supermarkets and 20% exported, especially to northern Europe, but also to Japan and the United States, the world’s largest sparkling wine market.. Served very fresh, between 6 and 7 ° C, the crémant marries the aperitif to dessert, especially with seafood, white meats or sushi.

The official Bordeaux wines on sparklers : https://www.bordeaux.com/gb/Journal/Education/Cremant-de-Bordeaux

One that I have taken up since moving out west to my beautiful Morbihan , and lovely Bretagne, We taken up on them and they are great price/quality ratio me think, The Crémant de Loire is produced in the Anjou, Saumur and Touraine appellation areas, i.e. over a large part of the Loire Valley vineyard. In 1811, Maison Ackermann began to produce fine bubbles, the production of these Loire wines was structured little by little with the birth of important trading houses. In 1936, the first AOCs developed with the official AOC Crémant de Loire in 1975. Some names to look out in addition to the above are Veuve Amiot ,Domaine Terrebrune ,Maison Bouvet-Ladubay ,Gratien & Meyer and the Vouvray producers,

The official wines of the Loire on the Crémants : https://www.vinsvaldeloire.fr/en/wine/cremant-de-loire

The usual names such as Brut Impérial by Moët & Chandon, Carte Jaune by Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin or Special Cuvée by Bollinger. These year-round crus, which represent 90% of the Champagneproduction, are produced according to a recipe specific to this vineyard: each house assembles several vintages to preserve the regularity and the particularity of the taste of its crus. What aficionados define as “house style”. And how about the French opinion? The very popular names comes to mind when on the French table such as Mercier (our favorite), Canard Duchêne, Nicolas Feuillate or Bollinger? News for champagne lovers! This is the conclusion of the opinion survey conducted by Promise / Panel On The Web, which asked French households (1,605 people) what is their “ideal Champagne”. Ok indeed a small number for comparison but a survey nevertheless. At the top of the ranking is an expected Champagne house, the Reims brandRuinart. It imposes itself on all categories of respondents: men, women, the youngest (18-34 years) and those over 55. Roederer and Veuve Clicquot arrive behind, they are mentioned by 47% of participants. Next are Moët & Chandon, Mumm, Krug, Deutz and Dom Pérignon. Astonishing 8th place for the Rothschildbrand, a very minor player in Champagne. They underline the very bad scores of Laurent-Perrier(17th) and Bollinger (18th), who are however qualitative leaders of Champagne. On average, the French say they buy 3 bottles a year (that is about right for us). The study also confirms that the French lover of Champagne is a man aged 55 (and over) with comfortable income (oops talking here….). My sentimental all time is on the list at no 14 Mercier as well, The list has not really change much over the years,

The official Champagne, the one and only: https://www.champagne.fr/en

There you go folks, a wonderful drink in happier moments always, Again, hope to have gvien some ideas for the wonderful magical Champagne of France, and its family. Again, hope you enjoy the post as I

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!