When customers come for a tasting at Domaine Muré in southern Alsace, they typically start by asking for the crémant. Many know about the estate from individual bottles enjoyed within their circle of friends. Thomas Muré, owner of the estate, has come to see this as a golden opportunity. “Customers come to buy crémant and leave with an assortment of all categories,” he says. “A high-quality crémant doesn’t steal from our sales of still wines.” While his estate appears to have achieved a working balance between still and sparkling, that dynamic is reaching a tipping point at the regional level….
Nicole Wolbers is on a mission to raise awareness of lesser-known traditional method sparkling wines. Following a successful career as a textile engineer, a move to California made Nicole realize wine was her passion. In Santa Barbara, she worked in the best wine store in town while taking wine classes in Napa Valley. Her WSET diploma thesis led her to the world of bubbles and gained her a nomination as one of the top candidates of the Champagne Bureau in the UK. Back in Germany, she noticed that the quality of German Sekt had rocketed, but few people knew about it. To change this, Nicole launched schaumweinmagazin.de, a German-language publication about sparkling wine, and offers sales, education, and tasting experiences. Based in the Berlin area, she also works as a wine writer, judge, and educator.
German Crémant is one of sparkling wine’s best-kept secrets. The high-quality classification requires strict hand harvesting and whole-bunch pressing to ensure that only the purest juice is used. Since its legalization over a decade ago, it has built a sparkling identity for itself, separate from its more established cousin Sekt. As one of the world’s best-selling sparkling style, crémant has at some point most likely graced your glass. Wine aficionados appreciate it for its delicate mousse, high quality, and ultimate value. Yet even among those who know and love crémant, few are aware that, far from being the sole property…...
Austrian sparkling wines are filled with adventure, from serious Winzersekt (Austria’s answer to grower Champagne) to the refreshing fizz of pét-nat, a style the country was quick to embrace. The adoption of a three-tiered quality pyramid for Austrian sparkling wine in 2015 helped set the stage. The book 111 Austrian Wines You Must Not Miss includes nine sparkling wines that illustrate this effervescent trend. Three I’d like to spotlight here are the outstanding Winzersekte of Ebner-Ebenauer and Fred Loimer, which represent the absolute pinnacle of quality, as well as a pét-nat that was one of the first to make a splash…...
Trink Magazine | Valerie Kathawala hazards forecasts for the future of wines from Alto Adige-Südtirol, Austria, Germany, and German-speaking Switzerland.
Liora Levi, high-profile sommelier, television personality, and president of ASI Norwegian Sommelier Association, came late to wine. In its own odd way, that only bolsters her bona fides as a daughter of the north. The countries to the north of the umlaut region can generally be viewed as latecomers to the joys of wine, and white wine in particular. But times change, and opinion makers like Levi have now helped the Nordics become prime drivers of the Riesling Revolution. It is a boom time for whites under the northern lights. As Levi explains in an interview with TRINK, the delayed…...
Gerhild Burkhard, founder of the International Sparkling Festival, reveals everything you've always wanted to know about sekt (*but were afraid to ask).
