• Great French Bubblies Beyond Champagne

    From Crémants to vins mousseux, French sparkling wines by names other than Champagne are worth getting to know. We found some excellent bubblies—not to mention very good values.

    MY FIRST FRENCH sparkling wine wasn’t Champagne but a low-budget Loire Valley bubbly. The Gratien & Meyer Brut Crémant de Loire fit my budget and palate way back when. It was bright, clean and fruity, and, most important, it was cheap—around $6 or $7 a bottle. I bought Gratien & Meyer whenever I wanted something sparkling but gave it up as soon as I could afford to drink Champagne. And although I occasionally purchased cheap sparkling wines from other parts of the world, I never bought Gratien & Meyer again or, for...

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