Regardless of where you think sparkling wine originated—most think it was Champagne, some point to Limoux, in southern France—it was likely an accident. What is these days done deliberately and referred to as the méthode ancestrale (‘ancestral method’) was originally a product of the seasonal rhythms of the farm: wines fermented in the Fall and bottled during the Winter often began fermenting again when ambient temperatures rose the following Spring, becoming bubbly when CO2 from re-fermentation was trapped inside.
This superb wine from Château de Passavant is an homage to those original farmstead sparklers, albeit one with enough modern touches to make it a serious rival to grower Champagne. Hailing from schist-rich soils in the central Loire Valley, this wine hits all the same pleasure points as Champagne—combining racy acidity, mineral grip, and long lees aging to lend creamy depth—for half the price. We’ve offered several over-achieving sparklers this year, but this jumps right to the top of that list. Having a case or more of this on hand will make you look very smart, to say the least—this is a stylish, serious, soulful sparkling wine at a ridiculously low price.
For you sparkling wine geeks out there, this wine throws you a few curves: For one thing, it’s finished with a Champagne-style cork and cage (unlike many modern méthode ancestrale wines, which are topped with a crown cap), and for another, it goes through disgorgement, wherein the spent yeast cells from the second fermentation are expelled from the bottle (whereas most ancestrale styles are bottled with the yeasts in suspension, giving them a cloudy appearance). It also uses the word “Crémant” on the label, even though that term is reserved for sparklers made in the méthode Champenoise (“Champagne method”), which is different from the ancestral method.
How? Well, with Champagne-method wines, you start with a ‘finished’ still wine then add a mix of sugar and yeast to it to ignite the second, in-bottle fermentation. Modern ancestral-method wines begin fermentation normally, after which the must is chilled down to pause the fermentation, which is then re-started. Technically, it is one, single fermentation—inside the bottle—and most ancestrale sparklers would see no further intervention from the winemaker. But Passavant seeks a touch more polish in their version, choosing to disgorge the wine (lending it a bright, clear appearance) after aging it for an impressive 24 months on its lees (the minimum lees-aging requirement for Champagne, incidentally, is 15 months).
Headquartered in the Anjou region of the central Loire Valley, Château de Passavant vinifies a wide range of classic regional wines, including botrytis-affected sweet wines from Chenin Blanc from the Côteaux du Layon AOC. The estate, farmed organically since the late-1990s, extends across 55 hectares of vineyards in Anjou, most planted on soils of sand and silt over schist-dominated bedrock. This bone-dry sparkler (it’s classified “Extra Brut”) combines 60% Chenin Blanc, 20% Chardonnay, and 20% Cabernet Franc, hinting at Champagne while expressing its unique composition and terroir.
The 2015 is a pale straw-gold in the glass, with a fine “bead” of small, persistent bubbles. The aromas are high-toned and floral, with scents of yellow apple, meyer lemon, pear, a touch of Nilla wafers and brioche, lees, white mushroom, honey, chamomile, and a hint of red currant. The wine has an incredible, mineral-driven finish that goes on for minutes, and its beautiful creaminess balances with lots of Loire Valley acidic freshness. I would be very hard-pressed not to call this Champagne in a blind tasting, and I remain shocked by its price: Serve in a white wine stem and let it open up for a few minutes before taking your first sip, then return to it throughout the night to see how it changes. The complexity of the base wine shines even after the bubbles fade, which is the true test of a high-quality sparkler. Buy a case and serve over the next few years with classic appetizers like smoked salmon and crème fraîche on buckwheat pancakes, or alongside a perfectly ripe Selles sur Cher goat cheese. It’s a truly impressive wine for the money. Cheers!
