Global Masters Wine of the Week: Sainsbury’s Crémant de Loire

Every week, we select a wine that picked up either a Gold or Master from our competition series, and tell you why the judges loved it. Enter the Global Masters, and this could be your wine.

Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Crémant de Loire Brut is made by Bouvet Ladubay for the supermarket

Bearing in mind the creep upwards of Champagne prices in this decade, it’s becoming more common for consumers to seek out a cheaper alternative to this famous fizz when pouring a sparkling wine for big, celebratory events.

And, if one goes to other aspirational traditional-method winemaking regions, such as Franciacorta in Italy, or the southern counties of England such as Kent and Sussex, you’ll find that prices can be similar, if not higher, than an equivalent Brut NV from Champagne.

So it was exciting to find in this year’s Global Sparkling Masters that there are delicious options of creamy, gently toasty fizz on the market today at roughly half the price of grandes marques Champagnes.

But where did they come from? As we found out after an extensive day of blind-tasting myriad options from around the world, it was the Loire that offered a remarkable quality-to-price ratio.

In particular, two names stood out for their crémants – the name for bottle-fermented fizz from France that hails from outside Champagne. These were Bouvet Ladubay and Langlois Château.

However, for our wine of the week, we have chosen the most keenly-priced Gold-medal winning fizz of the competition: the £11 Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Crémant de Loire Brut, which is in fact made by Bouvet Ladubay for the supermarket.

The sparkling wine garnered a high score for its combination of richness and refreshment, combining cleansing flavours of apple and chalk, with more creamy characters, and a touch of honey-coated toast, which provided added interest.

Indeed, such was the quality of this fizz for the money, the judges agreed that they would now be looking closely to the crémant category when it comes to selecting wines for their own events.

The wine: Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Crémant de Loire Brut NV

The source: Loire Valley, Saumur, France

The grape(s): Chenin Blanc (85%), Chardonnay (15%)

The style: A dry, fresh, gently creamy traditional-method sparkling wine with flavours of apple, bread, honey and chalk.

The winemaker: Patrice Monmousseau, Bouvet Ladubay

The price: £11-£12

The medal: Gold – The Global Sparkling Wine Masters, 2019

With high-quality judges and a unique sampling process, the Global Wine Masters provides a chance for your wines to star, whether they hail from the great vineyards of Europe or lesser-known corners of the New World.

It’s a competition dedicated to making winners out of winemakers.

Please visit the Global Masters website for more information, or please call +44 (0)20 7803 2420 or email Sophie Raichura at: sophie@thedrinksbusiness.com