Sparkling wine at a fraction of the price of Champagne

“Come quickly! I am tasting the stars!”

Story has it, the French monk Dom Pérignon called out these words when he invented Champagne in the 17th century. In truth, he didn’t actually invent Champagne as we know it. According to “The Oxford Companion to Wine,” Champagne’s transition from still to sparkling wine was an evolutionary process rather than a single dramatic discovery by one person.

But the quote still rings true. It’s certainly how some of us feel when we sip a glass of stellar Champagne, which is why it’s widely considered the best sparkling wine in the world.

While many aspects of the grape growing and winemaking process contribute to the glory of Champagne, one step is certainly significant. And that’s how they get the bubbles in the wine.

Champagne is made bubbly by first making a still wine, which is often a blend of many cuvées or batches; bottling that wine; then adding sugar and yeast to each bottle and sealing them with crown caps.

The yeast goes to town, consuming the sugar and producing carbon dioxide, which is captured in the liquid.

Once this second fermentation in bottle is complete, the wines are sometimes left on the lees — or spent yeast — to gain complexity.

Then, the wines are disgorged — that is to say, the spent yeast is removed —and the bottles are topped up with a bit of reserve wine before being sealed with a cork.

This so-called traditional method makes the finest sparkling wine because the lees has close contact with the wine in the bottle, imparting characteristic nutty, biscuity notes. And this process tends to make quite tiny bubbles in the wine.

While it’s lovely to splash out from time to time on a good bottle of Champagne, doing so will usually set you back at least $50.

So when you want fine, French bubbly that’s similar to Champagne at a fraction of the price, turn to crémant.

Crémant is dry, French sparkling wine made outside the Champagne region using the traditional method.

The name was coined in the late 1980s when the term “méthode champenoise” was banned by the European Union.

Crémant often delivers outstanding value for money at around $20 per bottle. And the LCBO lists a clutch of very good versions.

One such bottle is the marvellous NV Louis Bouillot Perle d’Aurore Brut Rosé Crémant de Bourgogne from Nuit-Saint-Georges in France (Vintages Essential 48793, $22.95). This sparkling rosé is a blend of Pinot Noir from the famous Cote d’Or of Burgundy, Gamay from the southern part of Burgundy and Chardonnay from vines grown near the city of Macon.

This Brut Rosé shines salmon-coloured in the glass with pretty rose-gold

inflections and tiny strings of bubbles beading up through the centre. The nose suggests gentle violets and lilac, cherry and crushed oyster shells.

The dry attack is crisp and lively while flavours gently call to mind cherries and cream, baked apple and brioche, a touch of nut and again the crushed oyster shell note found on the nose. Each sip lingers on the finish.

Score: 94

Another excellent

crémant is the NV Sieur d’Arques Grande Cuvée 1531 de Aimery Brut Crémant de Limoux

DOC, France (LCBO 428086, $18.95). Limoux in the Languedoc region of the south of France is thought to be the oldest sparkling wine region in the world.

And this wine, made from Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Pinot Noir, beams a bright shade of sunlit straw. The aromas are subtle but toasty, suggesting pralines and maybe a whisper of sea spray.

The entry is immediately mouthwatering with vinous, understated flavours that taste more mineral than fruity. Salt and stone hover on the palate shifting to show white flowers, a hint of lanolin and a touch of grapefruit zest that persists on the finish. This is a dry, sophisticated tasting wine.

Score: 93

From northwestern France comes the NV Château de Montgueret Crémant de Loire Brut ( LCBO 217760, $19.95).

This blend of Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay gleams a pale straw hue and exudes the fragrance of red apples, toast and beeswax before rushing in with delicate effervescence and levity while flavours flit from baked apple and honey to crushed stones and raw almond before tapering to a long brioche finish.

Score: 92