IN THE BOTTLE 

Aromas of green apple, lemon, yellow pear, and toast. 70% Sémillon and 30% Cabernet Franc, all from Bordeaux, a region in the southwest part of France. Although Bordeaux is famous for red wines, sparkling wine is also produced under the appellation Crémant de Bordeaux.

CLASSIC FLAVOR PROFILES OF VARIETAL

Historically, Sémillon is made into dessert wines, where its aromas of beeswax and white flowers, along with a lush texture, are prized. But when made as a sparkling wine, Sémillon becomes extremely tart, with notes of bright lemon and an almost flinty minerality. Cabernet Franc adds a firm backbone to our Lux Sparkling. 

VARIETAL FACTS 

There are many ways to get bubbles into a wine, but the most difficult is "méthode Champenoise," or the Champagne method, which is used to make Crémant de Bordeaux and our Lux Sparkling. The Champagne method involves producing a dry, still wine, then bottling it with a touch of yeast and sugar. This kicks off another fermentation where the carbon dioxide produced by trapping the yeast in the bottle, making the wine bubbly. The wine now ages with the yeast cells for nine months, adding a toasty note to the wine. After this bottle aging, the yeast is removed to ensure the final wine is clear and not cloudy.

HISTORY 

All Champagne is sparkling wine but not all sparkling wine is Champagne. In fact, to label a wine as Champagne, the wine must come from the Champagne region (an area about 90 minutes east of Paris) and it must be made by specific rules set out by the French government. Champagne as we know it did not exist before the 1700s. The fermentation that adds bubbles to Champagne must happen in the bottle, but until 1728, if you sold wine in France, you were only allowed to sell wine in cask. It took a royal decree by King Louis XV to allow the sale of wine in bottles; the first true Champagne house was founded the following year in 1729. 

DID YOU KNOW? 

A common misconception is that Dom Perignon, a monk who lived at an abbey in Champagne, discovered sparkling wine. In fact, he was trying to prevent wine from becoming bubbly. Until the 17th century, people considered sparkling wine as defective, and the Dom was trying to craft a still wine that would rival Burgundy.

IF YOU LIKE THIS WINE, TRY: 

Blanc de Blanc, Chardonnay, Lux Chardonnay 

Standard Bottle 750 ml

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