Cave de Bissey Crémant de Bourgogne Rosé

If you love Rosé Champagne, this is your bubbly!

Like its counterpart, this perfect little bubbly can’t be called Champagne as it hails from vineyards outside of the Champagne region - thus its amazingly affordable price. But price aside, we fell in love with it from the first moment! It is  everything you could want in a great everyday affordable Rosé Champagne alternative - clean, fresh, and bright on the nose, with beautiful red fruits - cherry and raspberry, with a hint of guava and tropical fruit tones that follow through on the palate. It’s crisp and racy but not austere in the least, with fine elegant bubbles, and is focused and lively on the palate from start to finish.

Why is it so darned delicious? Basically because they make it the same way top Champagne is produced, sustainably farmed, with careful vinification in the cellar. Cave de Bissey is a micro-cooperative  of growers established in 1928 in Bissey sous Cruchaud in the heart of the Côte Chalonnaise between the Côte de Beaune and the Mâconnais.

They’ve been doing this a long time - and it is one of the oldest cooperatives in Southern Burgundy and very well known locally for the quality of the wines. It remains a small scale operation with just 35 growers and 7 employees and they are the only growers in the area to control the whole vinification process of their Crémant, from harvesting to bottling, which ensures excellent quality, and we are thrilled to get a small allocation from them with only a handful of others in the country getting any!

They start with hand picked grapes and whole bunches, gently pressed, fermented in temperature-controlled concrete and stainless steel tanks for 10 days, then malo in concrete and in tanks for 7 months.

Secondary fermentation is  in the bottle for 18 months minimum (true Champagne only requires 15 months). It is  60% Aligote, 30% Pinot Noir, 10% Gamay from 25-30 year old vines in clay, limestone, sand and granite. Sustainably farmed with no herbicides, with cover crops.

Perfect for weddings, graduations, and celebrations of all kinds, it’s extremely food friendly and versatile. It pairs great with all kinds of appetizers, mild fish, crab cakes, and more, and is perfect all on its own on a warm summer evening! Cheers, Chris