NV Arnaud Lambert Cremant de Loire

My love for the Loire Valley knows no bounds. Paris, Bordeaux, Provence—there are many regions that get lauded as the ultimate French experience. To me, the Loire has always felt more quintessentially française. Full of rolling green pastures and fields of wildflowers, grand châteaux, and tiny towns that spill into vineyards, Loire is the France of fairy tales. 

In the Loire Valley, Arnaud Lambert is a rising star. He merged his family’s holding with the famed-yet-forgotten Château de Brézé to create Domaine Arnaud Lambert, a winery for Loire classicists that’s farming biodynamically around the hillside of Brézé. This sparkling comes from holding in Montsoreau and Saint Cyr, both within the Saumur-Champigny appellation. In Montsoreau, Arnaud farms a nearly pure tuffeau (a special limestone found in the Loire) site which produces a truly excellent, pure expression of Chenin Blanc. In Saint Cyr, the vineyards are heavy clay, adding mineral earthiness and inherent power to the grapes grown here. The blend of these two sites crafts this Cremant: electric, powerful, and simply dripping with acid and minerals. 

Chenin is such a versatile grape, but I especially love it in sparkling wine. The grape’s natural acidity creates such a vibrant, acid-fueled palate, and mixed with Chardonnay, the nose is a delightful orchard of apples, along with lemon zest, river rocks, and almonds. It’s an expansive sparkling, showcasing textural heft and a velvety mousse. The weight of the palate matched with Chenin’s signature acidity keeps things fresh. I'd be willing to put this bottle up against many higher priced contemporaries; this one serves as an argument for the extraordinary caliber of French sparkling wine outside of Champagne.