La Maison du Crémant Crémant de Bourgogne Prestige Brut NV

Love, family, and the pursuit of good wine – these are the themes that best describe La Maison du Crémant. Back in the 1890s, two winemaking brothers from Pommard married two sisters whose family owned vineyard land in Pommard, Nuits-Saints-George, and Vougeot. The vines weren’t Grand Cru or Premier Cru holdings, nor were they famous and exceptional lieu dits, either. The still wines were fine – middling at best – so, the brothers opted to “champagne-ize” the wines, a popular option among Burgundy producers at that time, to be sold to the English or overseas in America. Thus, La Maison du Crémant was born in 1895.

As time passed, La Maison du Crémant became known as one of the most consistent producers of “mousseaux” (Burgundy bubbly made in the Champagne style prior to the 1975 classification that formalized “Crémant de Bourgogne”) to be found anywhere. The original Moingeon brothers eventually passed on the company to their son and son-in-law, Albert Moingeon and Pierre Barbier, in 1922. This move bore unexpected fruit when Pierre invented the automatic post – a revolutionary piece of equipment for the sparkling wine industry, and a sort of precursor to the gyropalette used today in most sparkling production. 

This is a blend of fruit from holdings across the Côte de Beaune, Côte de Nuits, and Côte Chalonnaise – with the grapes split between chardonnay, pinot noir, and aligoté. The grapes are harvested and fermented separately, then blended and bottled to undergo secondary fermentation in glass. A liqueur de tirage of sugar and yeast is added to kickstart this process, and then the wine ages for nine months on the lees for integration and complexity. Disgorgement and dosage follows to finish the process – and a cork and cage seal the deal!

What results is traditional, delightful stuff that is sure to surprise you given the incredible price! The flavors and aromas are clean, vibrant, and remarkably integrated, with zippy and fresh sensations of lemon, chalk, almonds, toasted biscuits, white flowers, river rocks, flinty minerality, lime zest, golden apples, and Bartlett pears all flitting about the glass, luring you to take large, greedy sip after sip until your glass stands sadly dry. The mouthfeel is round and voluptuous, with a creamy and bone-dry finish that dissipates softly without any harshness. You’ll be impressed, and any guests will be sure to “revisit” the bottle time and time again! At this price, large quantities are the sure choice, trust me. One of the best Crémant de Bourgogne values we have found, and surely a new house favorite!