Crémant de Luxembourg is a sparkling wine from

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A sm ...

valley made according to the traditional method (''méthode traditionnelle'') of

sparkling wine production Sparkling wine production is the method of winemaking used to produce sparkling wine. The oldest known production of sparkling wine took place in 1531 with the ''ancestral method''. Pressure and terminology In popular parlance and also in the ...

which includes a second fermentation in the bottle followed by nine months of maturation. Only grapes from the best local varieties are used. They must be perfectly healthy, fully ripened, and free of damage from crushing or transportation. The designation Crémant de Luxembourg dates from 4 January 1991 when the ''Marque Nationale: Appellation contrôlée Crémant de Luxembourg'' was introduced. A rectangular label on the rear of each bottle testifies to the wine's authenticity and quality based on an examination of its colour, clarity, bouquet and taste. There must be a pressure of at least 4 bar in each bottle. Luxembourg is the only country outside France entitled to use the term "

crémant Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While it is common to refer to this as champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that word for products exclusively produced in the Champagne r ...

"."Le crémant de Luxembourg a 20 ans"
, ''Lalibre.be''. Retrieved 2 December 2011.

History

In 1885, the French company Champagne Mercier began to produce champagne in Luxembourg in order to save on taxes. Wine imported from the

Champagne Champagne (; ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, which demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...

region underwent the traditional process including a second fermentation in the bottle. Mercier were able to benefit from Luxembourg's membership of the

Zollverein The (), or German Customs Union, was a coalition of States of the German Confederation, German states formed to manage tariffs and economic policies within their territories. Organized by the 1833 treaties, it formally started on 1 January 1 ...

for exports to Germany, avoiding the high taxes the Germans imposed on bottled sparkling wines from France."Moselle Vintners and their Bubbly Crémants", ''Europe'', June 1, 2001, Osborn, Alan
/ref> Luxembourg's own involvement began after the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

when wine production was restored. In 1921, on the initiative of Paul Faber who gave his name to the Poll-Fabaire company, Luxembourg's wine producers became members of a national cooperative. Today the cooperative, known at ''Domaines Vinsmoselle'' has 350 members representing 65% of the total volume of wine produced or almost 800 hectoliters. It was thanks to the initiative of Vinsmoselle that Luxembourg was authorized to use the designation Crémant de Luxembourg alongside the crémants from various regions of France (Alsace, Bordeaux, Bourgogne, Die, Jura, Limoux, Loire and Savoie).

References

Sparkling wines Luxembourg wine Luxembourgian cuisine {{Luxembourg-stub