The spirit of the place stirs the world of wine and spirits. Throughout France, winegrowers never tire of exploring the richness and diversity of their terroirs. Like the Champenois who emancipate themselves from the dogma of blending to glorify their plots, when the producers of crémant base their success on the typicality of their appellations recognized in France. Knowledge and understanding of origins remains the best way to be… original.
It is obligatory to take out the bubbles for a birthday. Champagne? But no, creamy! This sparkling wine, a cousin of coronation wine, is celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of its recognition as an appellation of controlled origin (AOC). It brings together eight appellations, the pioneers of which, in Loire and Burgundy, date back to 1975. At the dawn of its half-century, Crémant is breaking sales records (+19% in five years), unlike champagnes. losing momentum in France. In 2022, the eight regional AOCs had crossed the symbolic bar of 100 million bottles, a performance confirmed in 2023 at 108 million.
“The Champenois have achieved a superb international conquest which leaves room for crémants in France,” believes Guillaume de Laforcade, general director of Jaillance, the Die cooperative, also a producer in Bordeaux. The comparison, although risky between two products which do not play in the same price category, is nevertheless necessary since the crémants are made like champagnes, with a capture of mousse in the bottle, the traditional method.
The crémant becomes foamy, as with champagne, during a second fermentation in the bottle: a so-called “traditional” method in the first case, and “champenoise” in the second. It occurs thanks to the introduction of a sweet liquor. Once the bubble is trapped in the bottles closed with a capsule and a “gidule” (the accessory which ensures sealing), the wines pass to aging “on slats”, immobilized for many months in a lying position – at least nine, but often several dozen. At the end of this nourishing rest, the bottles are gradually placed upside down in successive quarter turns (the “riddling”) and the neck frozen: this allows the accumulated lees to be expelled (the “disgorging”). , before refilling the level with a more or less sweet dosage liqueur and sealing with cork and the famous muselet to hold it in place.
A pleasure product, fine, lively and fresh
In the festive family of sparkling wines of all kinds, this sparkling wine of noble quality compared to industrial productions carbonated or produced in closed vats (the Charmat method of prosecco) “corresponds to new expectations: a pleasure product, fine, lively and fresh, synonymous quality and tradition, says Dominique Furlan, president of the National Federation of Crémants Producers and Elaborators. Our reputation is based on manual picking which guarantees the integrity of the grapes and prolonged aging. Furthermore, with bottles priced between 6 and 10 euros at the supermarket, and rarely more than 20 euros at the best winegrowers, Crémant presents an unbeatable quality-price ratio between the luxury of champagne and the industrial all-comer. “For a long time very French, even regional, it now achieves 40% of its sales from exports,” underlines Albéric Bichot, head of a prestigious Burgundian house.
The taster and journalist Pierre Guigui honors this jubilee with the publication of the first guide to crémants, released on November 15 (Better a good crémant, BBD Éditions, 21 euros). The author says he is “surprised by the general level, amazed by favorites for less than 10 euros and stunned by wonders at modest prices”. Of the 169 producers and 311 distinguished vintages, it identifies 135 agings from 24 to 36 months on slats and 117 beyond, to gain complexity, patina and minerality. Its selection of artisans, often organic, reveals a very high level of demands on sulphite levels and dosages (added sugars) at a minimum. These independents, who do not have the means to equip themselves to block the bubble, must call on service providers for the drawing and disgorging operations. “We can ask ourselves the question of investing from 100,000 bottles”, estimates Burgundian Paul Bouhélier, who produces 50,000. Manual pouring and riddling can be a choice claimed for the beautiful gesture, for certain vintages of prestige like the Absolute from the Bott-Geyl estate (4,000 copies).
Pierre Guigui’s guide reveals a teeming world behind the curtain of bubbles: in the variety of terroirs and grape varieties – forty! – complex blends are born (the five Jura grape varieties at Rolet), identity vintages such as 100% Alsatian Riesling, vinous Pinot Noir rosés, or even high-lineage white wines, finely toasted and buttered. “Crémants allow the consumer to travel in their own country,” suggests Guillaume de Laforcade.
The regulation of the champagne area dates back to 1910
On the effervescence, let’s forget the legend of Dom Pérignon, who did not invent mousse at the Saint-Pierre d’Hautvillers abbey. The first bubbles were accidental, in bottles which started fermenting again in the spring, with the warming of temperatures – and exploded at the same time. It is also possible that the English were the first producers of champagne in the 17th century, adding a little sugar to the wine that arrived in barrels and bottled on site. But another delicate mousse is attested by archives from 1544 at the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Hilaire, in Aude: the birth of blanquette de Limoux.
The only certainty: the development of sparkling wines is linked to the progress of glass to withstand pressure… They were produced everywhere in the 19th century, before the regulation of the champagne area, from the 1910s, returned to the shadows the “traditional methods” of other regions. Despite real know-how, it was not until 1975 that the AOC Crémant de Bourgogne and Loire appeared, narrowly surpassing Alsace (1976), although it was THE region specializing in these fine bubbles. It remains the main supplier (40 million bottles, or one in three) with 2,350 producers for 530 producers. The difference is explained by winegrowers who are members of cooperatives.
The sparkling Bestheim cellar (6 to 7 million bottles), in the process of merging with another giant (Wolfberger), is considering several tens of millions of euros of investment in a new production site in Rouffach. “While the demand is there, we cannot produce more due to lack of space in the cellar,” regrets Vanessa Kleiber, its marketing director. Alsace is also full of talented small producers: Jean Dirler, who stops his fermentations with 22 grams of residual sugar for a second fermentation without added sugar, the Muré and Valentin Zusslin estates, the Ribeauvillé cellar, Sébastien Mann and his Infiniment fou ( 100% Chardonnay) aged for 88 months, less than the Extra Brut of Meyer-Fonné placed in the shade for 100 months, or the Trilogy by Fernand Engel, 165 months.
Second region in volume (27 million bottles), the Loire also offers vibrant wines with a range of nine grape varieties, including the regional ones of the stage, Chenin, Grolleau, Orbois or Pineau d’Aunis… Another Loire specificity: records for export (61%), like the Gratien & Meyer house, owned by the German group Henkell Freixenet – world number 1 in prosecco and cava. “The latter are still progressing, but less quickly than before,” observes Frédérique Lenoir, marketing director of the Saumur trader. “The consumer is looking for more authenticity.”
Burgundy in ambush
Burgundy (22 million bottles) follows the Loire. “Crémants already represent 10% of regional appellations,” underlines Albéric Bichot. This AOC pushes the possibility of claiming climats to the National Institute of Origin and Quality (Inao). “It would make sense to develop local wines, in continuation of the Burgundian message, to ennoble the product,” he explains. The “premiumization” of Crémant has already largely begun with the definition, within this appellation, of two prestige categories: Eminent and Grand Eminent (24 and 36 months of aging). In Alsace, a similar approach created Emotion, from the best presses.
Bordeaux (10 million bottles) is catching up with the top three. The most broad-minded AOC with 14 grape varieties is experiencing the strongest growth, driven by a handful of big marketers like Louis Vallon and Jaillance. The latter is proud of having chased away prosecco from Air Canada Business class.
Françoise Antech produces some of the most elegant crémants.
© / SDP
Then comes Limoux (six million), mainly Chardonnay and Chenin: a late recognition (1990) compared to Blanquette (1938), which is distinguished by its Mauzac grape variety. In this small southern territory, a great family history: the Antech estate, for seven generations. He defends blanquette tooth and nail for its fresh aromas of “orchard fruits, crunchy green apple, fresh pear, quince, citrus fruits”, enthuses Françoise Antech, while producing some of the most elegant crémants in the world. France. Limoux has a new producer: Maison Wessman and its Petit Cernin Bubbles, whose ambassador is none other than the best sommelier in the world 2007 Andreas Larsson.
The Jura produces 2.7 million Crémants with the unique identity of Poulsards, Savagnins and Trousseaux “on our hillside vineyards”, says Cédric Ducoté, manager of the Rolet estate. “They are not grown on second-rate plots in the plains.” Jura winegrowers are banking on these sparkling wines to attract consumers to their atypical veiled yellow wines, untarnished whites, straw wines and light reds. At the back of the pack, but not without panache, the mountain people of Die and Savoie (the youngest, recognized in 2015) bring up the rear.
Everywhere, traditional bubbles are rising to move upmarket. The prize goes to Gérard Bertrand who is launching this fall the most expensive crémant (a limoux) in France: the Aigle Impérial, aged for nine years on slats and priced at… 149 euros. A beautiful illustration of multidimensional wine as he develops it in his latest work (Multidimensional Wine, Editions Origine Nature). “I put this wine aside in 2015, 17,000 bottles and as many in the following years, selecting early harvests to guarantee the acidity I needed to take it far. But I didn’t know how far he would be able to go”, confides the Languedoc merchant-winemaker, who dares to throw his paving stones in the game of bowling: “In the cradle of sparkling wines, an icon was needed to compete with the great champagnes.”
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