The Happiest Wine on Earth

Credit for this post title goes to wine writer Jan Bonne for calling Bugey-Cerdon what it is, a niche wine anomaly if we ever heard of one.  Patrick Bottex, the best known Bugey-Cerdon producer, says his wine is "lively and playful, has a deep pink color with a fine (sparkling) bead, ambrosial fragrances of strawberry and roses and finishes crisply."  Winesearcher says, "floral, somewhat sweet with fresh minerality."  Eater says it's "a touch sweet," adding nuances of rhubarb and wildberries.  The Bugey importer, Kermit Lynch, gets into it with "watermelon."  It's also light, low-alcohol and when you consider it's SUMMER, you get the idea: this stuff is a charming borderline fruit bomb and with that, we think Jan Bonne got it right.

Bugey-Cerdon is one of ten subappellations of Bugey and the only one to receive AOC certification (2009).  For fifty years before that it was a VDQS wine, one step above vin de table, and we're betting you really had to be a wine geek to even stumble upon the stuff.  The Bugey-Cerdon locale is on the western edge of the Alps between Jura and Savoie.  Historically the region was loosely considered to be a part of Burgundy, which it wasn't, but the locals thought of it that way.  It's actually twenty miles or so from both Burgundy to the west and Savoie to the east.  Maybe thirty miles or so to Geneva, Switzerland.

Bugey-Cerdon is typically made with a blend of Gamay and Poulsard grapes.  It may legally be made with 100% Gamay grapes.  It is made into bubbly using the pre-Champagne, Methode Ancestrale process that uses no second yeast application leaving the wine off-dry and somewhat grapey.  Alcohol is 7-8.5%; residual sugar is 22-80g per liter (off-dry to sweet). 

The village of Cerdon is in the southern Jura mountains.  The vineyards surround the village on steep southeastern mountainside slopes.  The soils are rocky, so free draining; the climate is cool.

There is more to the Burgundy connection: In the pre-wine appellation middle ages, the Bugey region was considered to be Burgundy.  And while the sparkling roses of Bugey-Cerdon are what the region is known for today, there are some serious pinots made in the other subappellations of Bugey.

Food affinities for Bugey-Cerdon?  Try breakfast pastries.  If it's a sweeter version, maybe some desserts.