As I said in the first post, Crémant is made across France. The different kinds of Crémant are all based on the region it’s made in. In most cases, if it is made, it’s made to be good. The chances of getting a really unbalanced wine (with maybe too much alcohol, or too little acidity) are pretty low. Producers tend to put decent effort into the base wine.
What is the base wine? Well in the method used here to make the sparkling wine, they start with a low alcohol base wine, put it into bottles with a bit more sugar and yeast, and let it ferment a bit more. The base wine needs to be a couple of things: fresh and acidic. If you get those right, then the wine will be ok with all the other flavour that comes along in the rest of the process.
So what goes into the base wine? Well grapes of course, and the grapes are subject to the area they’re in. In Burgundy you get Chardonnay and Aligoté, in Loire you get Chenin Blanc, and so on. All are grown, picked, and processed to keep the acidity high. That means picking early, and fermenting quickly.
With the big array of grapes that go into making Crémant, it’s a great wine for anyone who gets bored quite easily. You can go get yourself a different one each month.
But maybe it’s nice to keep the bubbles for the big occasions?
Cheers
Other posts in NWTW Week 12:
