Winemaker Notes
The 2016 Crémant reveals developed aromas of sweet tropical mango, pineapple and papaya, complemented by hints of caramelized brown sugar, honeycomb and butterscotch. On entry the palate is creamy and balanced by a quenching acidity. Flavors of peach cobbler, lemon cream and vanilla are complemented by rich, ripe pear, baked apple and crème brûlée. The long clean finish is refreshing with lingering notes of white peach, yellow apple and sweet lime.
The sweetness in Crémant is subtle, providing a fine balance with desserts, such as fruit tarts, poached fruits, light cakes, custards, exotic sorbets, gingerbread and crème brûlée. It also complements a wide range of spicy Asian foods, blue cheeses, and matches especially well with foie gras.
Blend: 68% Flora, 31% Chardonnay, 1% Pinot Noir
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
With a dry, floral nose, this lovely sparkler is a blend of 68% Flora, 31% Chardonnay and 1% Pinot Noir, with 15% barrel fermentation. Sweet, unctuous layers of peach, pear and vanilla biscuit are lifted by a balance of fresh acidity and underlying structure, making for a cohesive experience on the palate.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Crémant Demi-Sec is a blend of 31% Chardonnay, 1% Pinot Noir and 68% Flora, an unusual grape that's a cross of Sémillon and Gewürztraminer. It has about 35 grams per liter of residual sugar, as opposed to the roughly nine to 10 grams per liter for the other sparkling wines in the Schramsberg portfolio. It opens slowly to chalk, shell, quince and loads of floral perfume from the base of aromatic Flora. The palate is medium-bodied, off-dry and very perfumed, with lively mousse and a very clean, refreshing finish. This is very well-balanced, aromatically and structurally, with its kiss of sweetness and loads of perfume.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
68% Flora; 31% Chardonnay; 1% Pinot Noir. Occupying a niche all its own, Schramsberg’s Cremant is, as always, a well-made wine that is at once forwardly fruity with a mannerly sense of autolysis and a wonderfully creamy mousse giving voice to its skillful champenization. Delicious on its own any time that the urge for a slightly sweet glass of bubbly arises, it will serve as a most interesting, if admittedly different, partner to sweet-andspicy Asian dishes, and will come into its own teamed with all sorts of fruity, not-too-sugary desserts.
In 1965, Jack and Jamie Davies founded Schramsberg and set out to make world-class sparkling wine in the true méthode traditionelle style on the property originally established in 1862 by German immigrant Jacob Schram. There were only 22 bonded wineries in Napa Valley and fewer than 100 acres of California vineyards planted to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Schramsberg was the first California winery to provide a Blanc de Blancs in 1965 followed by a Blanc de Noirs in 1967. Now their son, Hugh Davies, leads the winery’s management and winemaking team.
The Schramsberg estate in Napa Valley’s famed Diamond Mountain District is a registered historic landmark with Napa’s first caves, hand-dug in the 1880s, and its first hillside vineyards. Quality focus drives all aspects of wine production starting with access to over 120 cool-climate sites in Carneros, Marin, Mendocino and Sonoma, which result in over 200 separate lots. Unique among California sparkling wine houses, Schramsberg ferments about 25 percent of its juice in oak barrels to produce rich, flavorful, complex wines.
Most of Schramsberg’s viticultural and winemaking practices are carried out by hand: grapes are hand harvested, the wines are handcrafted, and the bottles are stacked and riddled in underground caves. The family and the winery embody excellence and innovation in winemaking, as well as preservation of their land, their history and their community.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
Reaching up California's coastline and into its valleys north of San Francisco, the North Coast AVA includes six counties: Marin, Solano, Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake. While Napa and Sonoma enjoy most of the glory, the rest produce no shortage of quality wines in an intriguing and diverse range of styles.
Climbing up the state's rugged coastline, the chilly Marin County, just above the City and most of Sonoma County, as well as Mendocino County on the far north end of the North Coast successfully grow cool-climate varieties like Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and in some spots, Riesling. Inland Lake County, on the other hand, is considerably warmer, and Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc produce some impressive wines with affordable price tags.