When in Doubt, Go With Sparkling
This past weekend I was with a few friends for dinner, and between the appetizers and dessert we opened a few bottles, including two bottles of sparkling wine. It was a hot evening, the meal was long and leisurely, and the bubbles just made sense from start to finish — not just as an aperitif or dessert, but everything in between as well. It's one of my few wine rules: when in doubt, go with sparkling.
It reminded me of an email one of you sent me a few months back, about encountering one of our favorite sparkling wines out in the wild — François Baur Crémant d'Alsace. On the way to Paris, a quick detour in Alsace led to a similarly leisurely dinner, and a late-night basement speakeasy on a spur of the moment recommendation. They settled in and ordered a Crémant without checking the label. One sip in: "Wow — maybe I just like all Crémant d'Alsace." Curious, they ordered two more glasses and asked to see the bottle.
Sure enough, it was Baur.
Which brings me to the point — not all Crémant d'Alsace is created equal. Drive along Route National 83 between Strasbourg and Colmar and you'll spot the large factory-sized tank farms churning out industrial sparkling wine by the truckload. Exit the highway and drive ten kilometers west toward Turckheim, though, and you'll find the cellars of François Baur — and something altogether different.
Crémant is the word French producers use when making sparkling wine outside of Champagne but in the méthode traditional — secondary fermentation in the bottle, aging on the lees, the whole process. The oldest Crémant appellation in France belongs to Alsace, approved in 1976, though the tradition goes back much further.
Thomas, the latest generation at the helm of Baur, works within that tradition quietly and precisely, blending all his white varieties — Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris — into something that is genuinely greater than the sum of its parts.
François Baur
Crémant d’Alsace Brut Réserve
Bone dry and refreshing at just 12% alcohol, with a hearty foam and a persistently lively bead. Apples, pears and quince lead the way aromatically, with a clean minerality and a mouth-watering finish that makes the glass disappear faster than expected. The kind of wine that works as an aperitif, across a long meal, or anywhere in between.