What if you could enjoy the taste of Champagne without the hefty price tag? Join us in our latest episode as we celebrate Domain Day at Cheap Wine Finder by popping open a bottle of Love Burgundy Cremant de Bourgogne Brut Rosé. This festive bubbly, an elegant non-vintage sparkling wine from Burgundy, France, is available at Trader Joe’s for an incredible value. We revisit this wine from our 2022 selection to see if it still delivers the same delightful experience. Discover why Burgundy is a treasure trove for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and how a blend with a touch of Gamay grapes brings a unique twist to this Cremant. With over 700 independent growers contributing to the co-op behind Love Burgundy, you’ll learn why this wine stands out despite being from a lesser-known collective.
As we sip and chat, we delve into the fascinating world of sparkling wines and the distinct fermentation processes that set them apart. We also share insights on the geography of Burgundy and its connection to the Champagne region. Tune in to hear our thoughts on why Pinot Noir is a favorite when it comes to champagne-style bubbly, and our take on the underrated quality of wines from co-ops. Grab a glass and join the conversation as we toast to affordable luxury and explore the sparkling secrets of Burgundy’s wine country.
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0:08
hey, welcome, it's domain day from cheap wine findercom again, like always, uh, and this is december. We're doing bubbly party wines inexpensive ones, but good, and today I've got one that is um well, it's cheapest If you find it at Trader Joe's. It's the love Burgundy cream, not deep Borgone brute Rose, and I got it on it for 2024. Cause, this is a non-vintage wine that Trader Joe's has had for a while and I don't know if it changes. From what? From wild back. We did the 20, you know, in 2022, we did it. We're doing it again just to see if it's the same Now.
Speaker 1:
0:53
La Burgundy is a co-op in the Burgundy region of France and they have over 700 growers. That's what a co-op is it's a bunch of independent growers who pull their grapes together and they form a winery and they make their wines and they have a full slate of wines. Now, in places that you don't have a Trader Joe's, this wine sells from like $15 to $19, which, for a Cremant, is a good price. A Cremant, what's a Cremant? A Cremant is a traditional champagne-style wine from France that's not made in champagne Anywhere else. I mean, you can have all the different regions, can have champagne-style wines, but you've got to call it Cremant, not champagne. Champagne is a Cremant but it is so well well branded that it's got its own name. You know it's like kleenex every time you get a tissue you think it's that you call it a kleenex, even if you don't buy a kleenex, it's still a kleenex. Champagne is that. Take a sip, it's good.
Speaker 1:
2:08
The grapes are mostly Pinot Noir, a little bit of Gamay. Gamay is the grape from Beaujolais. To give you kind of a geography lesson here, burgundy is south and west of Paris. To the south, connected to Burgundy is Beaujolais and that's where they do the Gamay grape wines, and Gamay reminds me of Pinot Noir. Burgundy themselves is the home of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and they have some of the finest examples of those wines in the world. There's $2,000 wines there and then just north is Champagne. Champagne does Pinot Noir and Chardonnay too, but it's north and they don't always.
Speaker 1:
2:59
Well, in the past they didn't always get the grapes to ripen and what you do when you don't get ripe grapes is you make bubbly. You have to pick sparkling wine grapes, bubbly grapes, before they get ripe, because you're doing all these processes to them and actually at the very end, after they've gone through the triage of second fermentation. For here the second fermentation is 12 months. In champagne it's 18 months minimum. They always add a measured amount of sweeter wine. They know exactly how much to put in each bottle. This is a Brut which is dry, but it's the dry that's closest to sweet, which is backwards again. So they know what to do. And then the sweet wines they add a little bit more and if they don't add anything, it's nature and those are very dry wines. But that has nothing to do with this wine.
Speaker 1:
3:52
A co-op go back to the 700, is always in France seen as like a little bit of a lesser wine because it's self-policing. Are all the farmers doing the best on their grapes? And I think yeah. I think farmers aren't going to put up with somebody not pulling their weight. So I think a good co-op will make good wine and if you're not a good co-op, your wines aren't going to sell. So this is a, even though it's seen as lesser, I don't think it actually is, especially for the price range. I'm going to take another sip.
Speaker 1:
4:36
I personally prefer my bubbly, champagne-style bubbly to have Pinot Noir in it, at least to some extent. If it's all red grapes, it's Black de Noir with red grapes, but it's a little bit different with the rosé. Same grapes but a little bit different how they make it. A Chardonnay's bubbly is Blanc de Blanc, white from white. But I like the little bit of roundness you get. I mean, I love Chardonnay champagnes too. I'm not putting that one down at all either.
Speaker 1:
5:17
But this cremeux from Burgundy and they said they get the grapes from all over Burgundy and there's different regions. And they said they get the grapes from all over Burgundy and there's different regions. And that's how you know they have farmers everywhere and these are not probably Grand Cru grapes or anything like that. But you kind of don't need it. You know like there's like farm-to-market. You know we farm our grapes and we make our wine with little intervention. No, there's a lot of intervention. When you're doing sparkling wine, you're literally fermenting it twice, you're adding sweet wine to it, you're doing all sorts of things to it. So just good grapes will make good wine.
Speaker 1:
5:54
I'm going to take another sip. This is a good wine. This tastes great. This is a wine that you can sit and kind of contemplate, because it's got like a different flavor every time you sip it. It's got some complexity to it. The acidity is really good. It goes on and on and on. I mean it allows the flavors to leisurely unfold. It's got decent length. You know it's not a $70 champagne. One of those wines are you know that some winemaker spent a whole lot more time on. They're impressive, but this is really good for $11.99. I mean, this is, you know, you can get six bottles for what that other one is, and maybe six bottles is way more fun. I'm going to take another sip. I mean I don't give points, I don't give grades, but I do take sips, and this is one of those wines you're going to want to take sips.
Speaker 1:
6:52
So if you're having a holiday party and you're looking for a decent bubbly but you don't want to spend a fortune but you want everybody to be happy, the La Burgundy Cremant de Bourgogne, brut Rose 2024, is a good choice, and Bourgogne is just the French word for burgundy. We call it, you know English actually called burgundy. It has different pronunciations wherever you are. Yeah, this is really good wine. This is a fun wine to drink. It tastes great, um, mostly retro, but it's all subtle and it's all nicely complex and so it's a good wine. Well, let's tell me one more. I'll tell you one more time it's love burgundy, cremant de bergogne, brute rose. This is 2024 edition. If you find it, buy it, go to Go to Trader Joe's. It's much cheaper. So, adios, keep it cheap. We got more wine coming up. I think I've got something from Allure Valley which is always fun to drink, and I'll be talking to everybody in a couple of days. So, adios, keep it cheap and bye-bye.
