A good value-for-money alternative to champagne

Crémant (pronounced "cray-mawn") is a term that’s used often in the world of French wine.

It describes a kind of French sparkling wine that’s made in designated areas in France. The term was originally used in the Champagne region to label less effervescent (or bubbly) champagnes.

Since 1985, the Champagne region agreed to stop using the term ‘Crémant’. It is now used to denote sparkling wines that are produced outside of Champagne. Crémant wines are given carbonation through a second fermentation in the bottle.

Though, today they are still made less bubbly compared to champagne.

Officially, there are 7 designated Crémant regions in France. They are Crémant d’Alsace, Crémant de Bordeaux, Crémant de Bourgogne, Crémant de Die, Crémant du Jura, Crémant de Limoux and Crémant de Loire.

Crémant d’Alsace is the biggest of all the 7 Crémant regions. It produces about half of all Crémant production in France.

In any wine shop, you will generally find that Crémant is priced lower than champagne. This is because the market demand and prestige is higher for champagne than it is for Crémant. Because of this, Crémant is good value for money.