Oh dear! I would never have imagined that one day I would go to Die – Die to pronounce “Dee”, and for its inhabitants ? The diois.. to pronounce “Deewa”. See, it’s not so hard!

I still have muuuuch to learn on Clairette – but here are a few basics and an idea of the landscape :

Yes, Die is a very very tiny town in the Vercors Mountain, not so far from Grenoble. A place it feels good living when you like pretty landscapes and sweet sparkling wines . There you can hike, ski, climb and grow grapes: mainly Muscat… by the way, you can eaven grow muscat AND climb at the same time, the vineyard is one of the highest of France (700 meters) and it can get very triky to work in the fields.

So, where do come the bubbles? The legend says…
That the method to make clairette comes from the antiquity when France was still Gaulle. A gaulois lost his jar of wine in a river – winter came, ice froze the river, our friend Gaulois was very sad as he thought the wine was lost forever.  When spring came, he found the amphora again : the wine was delighful change in a sparkling elixir bringing a fresh touch to the sweetness of muscat! It is now called the method encestrale, one I’ll tell you about in a few weeks. Even if it is a very very old school way of making sparkling wines, it becomes popular in some other wine region of France.

When to drink Clairette?
You will love clairette with desert, fruits, sorbet, almond based delights, chocolate fondants…
My favorite pairing of all ? The “Galette des rois”, wich is an almond and butter based tart. Ok, not everyday . Maybe with a “brioche” it’s a bit wiser… but the fruit salad is maybe the wisest of all . Going for a salty dish ? Try a clam shell salad or anything with citrus fruits. It can also be the good sweet wine for foie gras… but maybe not your everyday kind of pairing .

I like it on its own for the aperitif or for any of my sweet moods like the 5 o’clock afternoon tea time. Not that I’m a sweet person, I’m usually going for dry wines, but this is for sure, a wine to make you smile and give you that little “je ne sais quoi” to put a spark in your day.

What’s more? It’s only 7% alcoohol!
Voilà exactly what we need! Yes clairette is sweet but it’s low in alcohol (7%). So that you can have a glass with no complex and … if any of your company complains on the sugar level: explain them that any degree of alcohol adds up calories to the wine… so that it may feel sweeter, but it’s not that much more energy… et oui!
Clairette de Die in numbers :

Jaillance is the main producer of Clairette and of French bubbles generally, this co-operative allows about 250 winemakers to live. It makes clairette for large-scale retails that you will find in supermarkets but they also have special high quality blends: original, organic, sophisticated, fresh and fun. There is one for everyone at Jaillance!

Enjoy your clairette!

Tasting notes ( recording in French):
White and exotic fruits, flowers and almonds, the eden garden in your glass!

• Jaillance tradition (organic)
• Jaillance : Icone
• Jaillance : Grande Tradition