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Top Choice — Crémant, More Fizz For Your Buck

There’s more to French sparkling wine than champagne, and these days growers from other regions give the famous names a real run for their money.

What is a Crémant?

Crémants are made using the “traditional method” (the same method used for Champagne where the second fermentation takes place in the bottle), and each will be classified to the region of the appellation that they are produced. Grape varieties vary, depending on locality.

Crémant wines of France

Why should you look to explore Crémant?

  • Diversity of complex flavours
  • Traditional Method sparkling wine same as Champagne
  • Cheaper price point making it easier to explore the range
  • Ideal for aperitifcocktails and food pairing


Sommelier’s selection : Blanc de Blanc Brut, Crémant de Jura

This wine took off with Sommeliers like hot cakes in the Toronto restaurant scene, the beautiful sparkling wine Crémant du Jura ‘Brut Sauvage.’

It took awhile for Jura wines to become “familiar” on Toronto restaurant wine lists and one of the producers that helped bring it to light and become more mainstream (for lack of a better word) is Domaine Baud. 

This now-legendary estate has become an elite grower-producer that every sommelier has firmly committed to memory.

So if you like Champagne, but not the price tag… then listen closely…

Domaine Baud’s wines are sensational, even some of the shrewdest Champagne minds still don’t know their name but we anticipate that to change!

Having been devout followers of Domaine Baud over the years, we’ve held their flag as high as possible because these low-dollar, world-class wines deserve the grand stage. They are meticulously farmed, hand-crafted, extremely generous wines that consistently compete for the market’s greatest values.

This nice bottle hails from Jura, a tiny region just east of Burgundy.

Domaine Baud Peres et Fils “Blanc de Blanc” Brut, Crémant de Jura is an exceptional Value. It can beat your average Non-Vintage Champagne in a blind tasting, at less then half the price. Jura is the mountainous region that lies north of the western Alps in France. They are well known for the production of Vin Jaune and their incredible values in sparkling wines.

Their estate history dates back to 1742, when Jean-François Baud started working as a pieceworker in Le Vernois. The family house accommodated all the following generations that where already listed in the town archives before the 1789 French revolution, earning their livings from mixed farming. In 1950, René Baud, the 7th generation, rebuilt the vineyard which had suffered from the phylloxera crisis as well as the two World Wars. At that time, 4 hectares of vines were cultivated.

This sparkler or Crémant is made in the traditional Champagne style, known as “Method Champenoise .” It is a “Blanc de Blanc”, which means it is made from 100% Chardonnay grapes. Also it is a Brut, when talking Champagnes, that means it is dry, not sweet.

“This is a very tasty, rich, golden hued, well aged chardonnay-based sparkler with an involved nose of cashew, baked apple, nougat and honey. It is almost creamy in texture with fine mousse and very good acidity providing counterpoint. There is pleasant nutty bitterness on the finish; length is excellent.” – 92 Point Winealign.com David Lawrason


Where to find this wine ?
Cremant de Jura Brut Blanc de Blancs by Domaine Baud NV

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