2023 Melanie Pfister - Breit Cremant d'Alsace Extra Brut (750ml)

Breit (formerly Crémant Blanc de Blancs): The acronym Breit comes from Hangenbriete, the name of
the vineyard. The appellation rules for this wine were promulgated in 1976, and Mélanie's father
started making crémant in the early 1980s. From the first, he started with a long aging period. Today,
the Pfisters well understand this wine and consistently make an unusually elegant, perfumed, top end
sparkling wine. This is a blend of roughly half Chardonnay and a quarter each of Pinot Blanc and
Auxerrois (the back label states half Chardonnay and half Pinot Blanc because the latter is commonlyassembled with Auxerrois in Alsace.). The wine rests on its lees for a minimum of twenty-fourmonths (bear in mind that most French crémant, re- gardless of origin, ages on its lees for a mere nine months or so). Depending on what bottling you have— there are between three and four disgorgements of a given year’s crémant—what you’re drinking could have aged as long as thirty-six months on its lees. This is a single-vintage wine without any older reserve wine, but the vintage is kept discreetly on the back label rather than printed on the front because of the multiple disgorgements. The final sentence in the back label text gives the exact number of months of aging on the lees. Production averages 800 cases annually; dosage is 3-4 grams per liter, making this an extra
brut.

-Importer notes