Dirler-Cade Cremant D'Alsace Brut Nature 2020
Just brought this bottle in at the shop and was excited to pop the cork after a hard days work.
As a way of kickstarting this blog back to a place where I feel it relevant and useful to myself and hopefully some long lost readers, I've decided to follow my current passion and not force content. Lately I have been heavily invested in whiskey but also have come to a realization that drinking spirits night after night is not necessarily sustainable. Bubbles have been a growing segment in the market since I started buying wine around 2007 and the amount of offerings and representations keeps me excited and I figured with the holidays fast approaching and a shelf in the cellar heavy with bubbles from easily attainable to more celebratory, that maybe I should firmly plant my flag in the I love bubbles camp!
Bottle Info... and a nice description from our local distributor that peaked my interest even more:
"Dirler Cade is a brand new addition to the Devenish portfolio and we’re super excited to work with this famous Alsatian house. Dirler Cade was created when Jean Dirler married Ludvine Cade in 2000. Both families had been making wine in the Alsace for generations and decided to combine wineries under the name Dirler Cade. Almost half of their 18 hectares are within Grand Cru vineyards and then they have vines in 5 lieux-dites as well. The land is all farmed biodynamically as the Dirler domaine adopted biodynamics early on in 1998. The fields are plowed 4-5 times per year by horse, they remove flowers instead of green harvesting, they let natural cover crops grow in the vineyards, and only use herbal teas and copper sulfate for vineyard treatments. It all combines to create a healthy biodiverse ecosystem. They have a team of 5-6 people who work year round and expand to 20 people for harvest. All the grapes are hand harvested. The picking teams and family all eat and share wine together on the belief that the harvest will go better if everyone is in a good mood and happy to work together with positive energy. In the winery they use whole cluster presses, spontaneous fermentation, and long macerations on the lees." (courtesy of NED SWAIN-DEVENISH WINES)
My Thoughts:
Pours a light pale golden hue with a foamy froth that quickly dissipates into a stream of fine bubbles rising quickly from the epicure.
The aromas are faint with whiffs of crusty baguette bread, fresh peeled apple skins and a crisp clean morning airiness that reminds me of a cool spring dew wrapped around emerging chamomile in the garden.
The palate is prickly with good translation from nose to tongue. Elegant and crisp from the first sip with nice progression from start to finish. A bit of bosc pear midpalate with a backdrop of black oxford apples as the wine opens and evolves a bit. As the fizziness tamps down the wine emerges with a subtle creaminess that softens the finish and evokes some complex accents of dried mango and just a kiss of fresh sweet cicely pods on the finish.
Solid offering punching in at about $28 on the shelf and a perfect balance of value and complexity.
(Final Score 88/100)
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