Cremant de Die is an appellation for the dry sparkling wines from the town of Die, in the Rhone region of France.
Cremant de Die wines are made from a minimum of 55% Clairette, finished with an addition of Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains and Aligote. Originally, the wines were made exclusively from Clairette, but the other two varieties were introduced late in the 20th century. Due to the nature of these grape varieties, the wines generally have a particularly 'grapey' taste underlying the other characteristic aromas of peach, apricot and honeysuckle. Cremant de Die is aged on its lees for a minimum of 12 months and has a minimum residual sugar level of 15 grams per liter. In order to keep a certain level of concentration in the wines, the appellation law states that a maximum of 100 liters may be extracted from 150kg of grapes (26.5 gallons from 330lbs) and that those grapes must be whole-bunch harvested rather than machine harvested.
The topography and soils of the area around Die are characterized by craggy outcrops of glacial rock formations and the high cliff faces of the alpine foothills. The vineyards that produce the grapes for Cremant de Die wines are planted in soils that are the product of thousands of years of erosion – a combination of chalky clays and sedimentary rocks. The climate here is no less dramatic, being highly changeable due to the proximity of the Alps to the east. Die is at the northern extreme of the Mediterranean climate, and therefore enjoys periods of extended, intense sunshine and warm weather mixed in with fast-developing mountain storms and rain showers.
