Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Double Bubble, 3/15/2019

  (NV Chateau de Breze Cremant de Loire Brut Rose) Hello friends. The extra hour of sunlight we’ve enjoyed every day this week is as good of an excuse as any to pop open a bottle of sparkling wine. So, today we have two for you: This bottle serves as an argument for the extraordinary caliber of French sparkling wine that is produced outside of Champagne. Château de Brézé is a medieval castle in the Loire Valley that dates back to 1060. To this day, descendents of the original lords live in its quarters. Though the exact date the Château started making wine is unknown, there are references as far back as the 15th century. King René of Anjou famously served Château de Brézé in his court, and subsequent monarchs followed his lead. Reportedly, Château de Brézé and Château d’Yquem used to engage in a wine exchange—the greatest Sauternes for Brézé’s signature, chalky bottlings. Arnaud Lambert currently manages this estate, and since 2009 he has been working on converting this historical site back to entirely organic viticulture. He farms roughly 30 hectares in Saumur, though Brézé vineyards were historically thought of as their own sub-region due to their unique terroir. Tuffeau limestone—a porous, chalky, fine-grained stone with great drainage—sits just below the topsoil of Brézé's hillside. That, coupled with the region’s cooler temperatures, creates wine with astonishing acidic structure. The sparkling wines from this hillside feel reminiscent of Champagne’s kimmeridgian soil—so full of verve and energy. This rosé is made of Cabernet Franc in the Champenoise method. It clocks in with 12% listed alcohol and dosage of 8 g/L. The nose is vibrant with strawberries, cranberries, herbaceous spice, citrus rind, cream, and petrichor (that indescribable scent of rain on dry ground). The palate sits on the extra-brut side of brut—racy and dry without shutting out Franc’s inherent fruit and greeneries. It’s an everything sparkler; light enough to imbibe as an aperitif, but thoughtful enough for tons of food pairing. Our old faithfuls when it comes to sparkling rosé would all do: roasted chicken, buttered popcorn, creamy cheese, banh mi.