Crémant de Savoie

Legal form

Crémant de Savoie has no separate cahier des charges. In the current text, "Crémant" is a mention placed before the name for quality sparkling white wines of AOC Vin de Savoie (or Savoie). AOC Savoie itself was first recognised by decree on 4 September 1973.¹ The year the Crémant mention was introduced is often given as 2014, but we did not find it in the text we read.

The Crémant area comprises 54 communes in Savoie and Haute-Savoie, and some communes of the Ain and Isère may be used for vinification.¹

Grapes

The cuvée must contain at least 40% Jacquère; Jacquère and Altesse together must reach at least 60%; black varieties may make up at most 20%.¹

Harvest and pressing

The rules here are stricter than for still Savoie wine:

• grapes are picked by hand into containers of at most 250 kg;
• they reach the press within 24 hours and are pressed as whole bunches;
• continuous presses and chain presses are prohibited;
• no more than 100 litres of must per 150 kg of grapes.

All four rules come from the cahier des charges.¹ The limit of 100 litres per 150 kg is the same as in Crémant d'Alsace.^1,2 More on pressing.

Ageing and yield

Crémant de Savoie is made by the traditional method. The wine spends at least 9 months on the lees and is released no earlier than 12 months after tirage.¹ The base yield is 78 or 74 hl/ha, with a ceiling (rendement butoir) of 83 or 80 hl/ha.¹

The source is the Savoie cahier des charges approved by the order of 25 August 2021.¹