As summer winds down and fall waits patiently around the corner, last “hurrahs” are sought in the final full week of August.   People push to find time to entertain outdoors and grasp at the final elements of summer to savor until next year.   It seems this summer has passed faster than others past and this week in order to put a proverbial exclamation point on the end of a favorite season, a much-loved bottle of Bubbles is opened. 

As prior archived articles have discussed, “Bubbles” is the fond casual term for sparkling wine in the United States (which is not allowed to be officially referred to as “champagne” due to the geographic location where it is made).   Not all sparkling wines are alike and as introduced this past spring there are a variety of styles in which they are made, including “demi-sec”, which is described as sweet and contains 3.3 to 5 percent sugar (see my archived article “Break out the Bubbles for Budbreak” for further technical discussion).  In the world of sparkling wine, “demi-sec” (and the even sweeter “doux”) wines are known as the “dessert wines”.   But do not be fooled, these wines are not of the traditional sugary sweet characteristics that many associate with dessert wines.   Instead, it is the “demi-sec” wines which come across as exotic and often offer unique aromas, texture and flavoring.

Schramsberg Vineyards (“Schramsberg”), founded in 1862 and located in Napa Valley, is highly regarded for its sparkling wine.   A visit to the winery is enough to enchant anyone and it is not a bad life to spend a few moments sipping bubbles in the solitude of a candlelit cave.  Yet even without the ambience, it is the high quality of the varied flight of sparkling varietals that they produce which captivates the winery’s patrons.  Among the wines produced, Schramsberg does make an off-dry dessert-style wine called “Crémant Demi-sec” (“Crémant”).   Interestingly enough, it is this sparkling wine that is served more often at While House events and notably was served at President Ronald Reagan’s Second Inaugural Luncheon and President Clinton’s dinner for the prime minister of Canada.  

Learning about the composition of the Crémant prior to actually tasting the wine immediately provides some insight as to why it might be selected over other sparkling wines for White House affairs.   While many sparkling wines choose to make the Chardonnay grape as the foundation of their production, the Crémant’s composition consists of 88% Flora, 10% Chardonnay and 2% Gewürztraminer.   Flora?   Yes, Flora, a grape that many are unfamiliar with and yet another testament to the notion that no matter how much one knows about wine, there is always something new to learn or even a lesser known varietal to discover.

Flora is a unique California grape.   It was developed at UC Davis and is a cross of Sémillon and Gewürztraminer.   The combination of these two vines creates a powerhouse of a grape.   Gewürztraminer, which is known for its fruit and ever-present spice, meets the strength of Sémillon (which is often known for deep honeyed notes in other dessert wines).   Imagine a grape that is truly exotic in its nose, fruit-forwardness and spiced components coupled with the strong, smooth creamy and honeyed nature of Sémillon:  that vision is a reality known as the grape Flora. 

With Flora’s characteristics in mind, it is apparent why Schramsberg would name its demi-sec sparkling wine “Crémant” (which means “creamy”).    In a traditional sense, Crémant is also appropriate in the sense that it is used to refer to a sparkling wine which has a softer effervescence.

Opening a bottle of Schramsberg’s 2005 Crémant is a treat well worth waiting for and it is no wonder that this wine appears so frequently at White House State affairs.   The sparkling wine flows richly forth into the glass without the typical effervescence of other sparkling wines.   Not to be mistaken, this glass of sparkling is complete with tiny, ornate bubbles gently rising to the top.   Admiring the wine in the glass, it is easy on the eyes as the senses get lost in the wine’s deep golden color.   Taking a curious quick first sip, the Crémant meets expectations by matching the wine’s appearance and is like liquid gold on the palate.  Mesmerized by the texture, the wine is decadently smooth with just the right amount of weight as if a satin sheet is gliding across the palate.   Deep rich lumbering aromas of toasted oak and melted caramel flirt with a slight perfume of honeysuckle.  Waken by the nose of the wine, the palate presently picks up buttered popcorn, French vanilla, toast, a breath of lemon meringue and a hint of ginger to be entertained by a lingering finish of candied orange.   The sweetness in the wine is delicate and balanced by a subtle acidity, such that succulent rich flavors tumble across the palate.   Due to the exotic nature of the wine coupled with its fine crafted balance, the palate finds itself carefully savoring each flavor and hungrily searching for more.

While the wine looks presidential and on the palate certainly embosses a golden seal, the Crémant is still affordable in the realm of sparkling wine and can be guiltlessly paired.  However, not wishing to squander the decadence of this wine, an elegant dessert pairing is merited.   While many would race to pair crème brûlée, (which, admittedly, would  be heavenly), the 2005 Crémant merits a creative dessert pairing that will equally impress guests:

·         Lemon Blueberry Tiramisu

In creating a Lemon Blueberry Tiramisu, refreshing fresh lemon meets juicy seasonal blueberries as a “hail to the chief” of the final days of summer.   While the dessert itself looks fancy, it can easily and moreover casually be made to win over even the most cantankerous of guests.

In this multi-stage recipe, the ingredients are largely fresh lemon, blueberries, ladyfingers, mascarpone, lemon curd and two types of sugar.   While there is no vanilla in the recipe, when paired with the 2005 Crémant the wine adds that flavor to soothe any residual acidity in the dessert.   Nuances of toast or bread pudding in the wine accentuate the flavors from the ladyfingers in the tiramisu.  The citrus notes of the lemon in the tiramisu are compatible with the exotic fruit in the wine.  Despite being a demi-sec sparkling wine, the deep notes contributed by the Flora grape in the 2005 Crémant also tame the sugar in the tiramisu bringing forth perfect harmony in a dessert course.

Flavor wise, the Lemon Blueberry Tiramisu was frankly, insanely good.  The dessert is astounding decadent without overwhelming the palate.   While the wine was reverently sipped to take in its exotic rich nature, similarly the Lemon Blueberry Tiramisu was slowly savored as if wishing that neither would end.  A quiet hush fell over my guests and the consensus was that with the pairing of the 2005 Crémant, it was a dessert course of the caliber and worthy of a 5 star San Francisco restaurant while being served in the comfort and seclusion of a summery backyard.   Once assembled, the dessert has to refrigerate for six hours or longer; given the caliber, quality and overall “wow factor” of this dessert, however, if spending an afternoon to prepare Lemon Blueberry Tiramisu for guests is “wrong”, then I don’t wanna be “right”.