Published by Jeremy.
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Whenever we think of French sparkling wine, it is easy to go to Champagne.
But there are many other great wine regions producing their own delicious sparkling wines, often referred to as Cremants, using the same methods as Champagne just, you know, not in Champagne.
JC Calvet is one such producer, and makes a beautiful, and affordable, off-dry sparkling wine in Bordeaux from Merlot and Semillon in the 2022 vintage!
Note: It seems this wine has different grapes and blending percentages depending on the vintage.
JC Calvet is an Off-Dry Cremant from Bordeaux
This Cremant from Bordeaux was pale lemon in color with medium aromas of lemon, lime, pear, yellow apple, toast, wet stone, saline, and peach skin.
On the palate, it was off-dry with medium(+) acidity and body, medium alcohol and flavor intensity, a creamy mousse, and a long finish. We had slightly riper flavors on the palate with lemon, lime, wet stone, pineapple, peach, pear, nectarine, beeswax, white blossom, and elderflower being present.
This one was surprising mostly because we didn't expect a little bit of residual sugar in the class, which had a nice coating of the tongue and worked really well with some of the floral notes in particular. A surprise, but a good one!
Cremant Food Pairing – Mango Rice Salad with Coconut
We paired this dish with a tropical salad made with red rice and topped with mango and coconut, amongst many other ingredients. The bright nature of this dish helped bring out more pear, grapefruit, and pineapple notes.
We also had a vegetable medley with a tahini-based dressing on the side, which helped highlight more primary citrus flavors, which was, admittedly, a bit less enjoyable than the main dish.
Score: 3 / 5
We'd buy a glass of this one.
Overall, JC Calvet Brut is an interesting Cremant with a strong spread of primary flavor notes and a bit of minerality, floral, and slight residual sugar thrown into the mix. Although we often prefer more lees-dominant sparkling wines, this one hit just fine and we'd gladly get a glass on a menu.
JC Calvet is located at 11 Rue Ernest Godard, 33000 in Bordeaux, France. We purchased this wine on Wine.com and enjoyed it in 2025.
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