Montgermont Cremant de Bourgogne (Sparkling Pinot Noir)

Many find top-tier Cremant de Bourgogne routinely outperforms the entry-level NV Brut bottlings of almost any Grande Marque Champagne house. And that's before considering the price-value trade off - let's just say you pay an awful lot for that name brand. If you're more interested in the product than the impression, we're happy to recommend this discovery with you.

Burgundian producer Samuel Montgermont has made it his mission to unseat some of these lesser Champagnes with his amazing, hand-crafted sparkling wines. Over the past decade, he has burst onto the scene out of nowhere as a one-man sparklehorse show.

Pop his Cremant de Bourgogne Blanc de Noirs next to a table of Clicquot, Mumm, and Moet and see if you don't agree with the effusive Mr Suckling:

"I can’t remember ever tasting a Cremant de Bourgogne this good, and it tastes the way all the sparkling-wine advertising looks! What a beautiful pinot noir nose this has! Ripe raspberry fruit with notes of Amalfi lemon and marzipan and a spot-on balance of fruit, creaminess, mousse and freshness that’s joyful and subtle! I can’t remember when I last said this with so much conviction...Drink now! 94 points." - James Suckling, 11/22

His review is funny, but it's also spot on - this is a gorgeous example of Champagne-method French bubbles with all of the stops pulled out. Made from a patchwork of 12 sites in Burgundy, with mostly Pinot Noir and a touch of Gamay.

We will all be drinking a LOT of this over the coming months. We just hope it lasts through the holidays!