Crémant: style guide plus 120 tasted

While Champagne gets much of the sparkling wine glory, with its established image of prestige, and Prosecco the lion’s share of attention at the more affordable end of the market, there is no French wine category more versatile and complex than its crémant sparkling wines.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores on the 25 top-scoring crémants

This single designation comprises eight officially classified appellation regions within France, including Crémant de Alsace, de Bordeaux, de Bourgogne, de Loire and de Limoux, each with its own distinct style and unique blend of grapes best-suited to its region.

Indeed a glass of crémant could comprise 100% of varieties including Riesling, Chenin Blanc or Jacquère, a 50/50 blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle, or Champagne varieties Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

Unlike Prosecco, which undergoes fermentation in tank, these traditional-method French sparkling wines are made in the same labour-intensive way as Champagne, with a secondary bottle fermentation and ageing in bottle on lees for a minimum of nine months or longer, to develop body and complexity.

More than 800 élaborateurs make about 110 million bottles annually, according to the federation representing crémant producers across France, FNPEC. While crémant production volumes are about one third of Champagne’s total, and it may lack the historical associations of Champagne, crémant is experiencing a surge of popularity and is increasingly the fizz of choice for wine lovers seeking the sweet spot between price and quality.

‘Since March 2020 and the first lockdown, we were interested to see that our sales of Prosecco dropped significantly, and we sold more crémant and Cava than ever before’, says Lindsay Poole, director of UK merchant Wine Poole. The same trend has been noticed again this year and Poole attributes it to the wines being less sweet than Prosecco. It’s for this reason she believes that the company has also seen a rise in the popularity of Italy’s Franciacorta sparkling wines.

Taste exploration

Trevor Gulliver, CEO and co-founder of St John group, which recently added a house Crémant de Limoux cuvée to its wine shop offering, believes ‘people will pay for sense of place, tradition and quality’ and would argue that ‘terroir or place is not uppermost in people’s minds when it comes to regular Cava or Prosecco’.

Regarding the crémant market, Sylvie Lacube, marketing manager for Domaine J Laurens in Languedoc, says: ‘At one point, Cava and Prosecco were so trendy that it was more difficult to sell a crémant. But after a while, people begin looking for something with more body and finesse, even if the wines are more expensive.’

And in terms of price points, crémants at the £10-£20 mark are the most popular at The Wine Society, although the UK merchant is seeing ‘encouraging growth over £20, too’, with the category overall ‘representing nearly half of the total non-Champagne sparkling sales’, according to sparkling wine buyer Sarah Knowles MW.

But where crémant’s range of styles might potentially lead to confusion for consumers, the category does also provide a perfect opportunity for exploration.

See all regional Crémant tasting notes and scores

27 Crémant d’Alsace

68 Crémant de Bourgogne

8 Crémant de Limoux

11 Crémant de Loire

2 Crémant de Jura

1 Crémant Savoie

As with all wines, broad generalisations are difficult, with the different regional terroirs, viticulture and vinification all playing a part.

However, if you’re interested in exploring sparkling wines that show yeasty, buttery patisserie flavours from ageing on the lees, look to crémants with a more neutral base, such as those made predominantly from Pinot Blanc (Alsace), Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (Bourgogne), Chardonnay and Savagnin (Jura), or Chardonnay and Jacquère (Savoie).

For fruitier styles, look to the Loire and Limoux for high-acid, crisp and appley Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay-based wines – you’ll also find red fruit flavours from Cabernet Franc in the former, and even tropical elements from the Mauzac grape in the latter.

For aromatic and floral wines from Clairette, Aligoté and Muscat, look out for the crémants of Die in the Drôme.

Vintage crémant bottlings are usually richer and more complex, suited for longer ageing and better at pairing with food, while most crémant non-vintage bottlings are refreshing, juicy and zesty, and make an excellent apéritif.

Many crémants are best consumed within two or three years of purchase, although some bottles have the capacity to age beyond 10. Serve cold, between 5°C-8°C, with lighter wines at the cooler end and the more structured at the other.

Below are 25 of the best-scoring crémants out of a total of 120 tasted in June 2021.

25 top-scoring crémants

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