Tissot, Crémant du Jura, Brut NV, Rose

Dianne Gross owner of Cork Wine Bar in Washington D.C. selects this week’s pick from one of her many favorites on a wine list that she and her husband/business partner developed over a two year period. She recommends Tissot, Crémant du Jura, Brut NV, Rose, which she describes as a complex sparkling wine that is reminiscent of Champaign. Crémant is in fact the term that the French use to describe wines that are bottle fermented using Méthode Champagnoise. It involves bottle fermentation and aging that keeps the wine in contact with the yeasts to impart toasty, bready flavors. This wine offers the bready qualities found in Champaign but it also retains crisp, fresh fruit flavors. The du Jura wine region lies east of Burgundy and near the Swiss border, where winemakers specialize in sparkling rose wines made with pinot noir and poulsard grapes. She points out that the wine stands well on its own, but also works well with a wide range of food, including cheese and prosciutto. Gross further suggests a pairing with the Cork Wine Bar Brioche sandwich. You can taste this wine for about $12 a glass at Cork Wine Bar, which the Washington Post recently called one of the “most accomplished” wine bars in the D.C. metro area.