It’s no secret that we love Champagne. With its buoyant, effervescent nature and compelling minerality, what’s not to love?

Of course, all this pleasure comes at a price. That's where crémant comes into play.

They're sparkling wines made exactly like Champagne — just not in Champagne. And they deliver the same incredible enjoyment at a fraction of the cost.

Some of the finest expressions of crémant we know are made at Domaine Arnaud Lambert.

These luscious, chiseled beauties come from soils as great as any found in Champagne and rank among the best white and rosé sparklers on our shelves.

The quality of these bottlings should come as no surprise.

Arnaud is one of the Loire Valley’s most ambitious and prolific young vignerons. He produces more than a dozen singular cuvées from his superb, organically farmed holdings in Saumur Champigny and Saumur. Like Picasso or Mozart, the ratio between volume and greatness in his repertoire is staggering.

After studying viticulture in Beaune, Arnaud worked with his father Yves at their family estate in Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg.

In 2009, the Lamberts radically expanded their holdings, leasing land from the nearby Château de Brézé. This alliance with one of the most historic estates in France lifted Arnaud into the stratosphere and resulted in some of the finest wines ever produced in the region.

Made up of several walled vineyards, or clos, the terroir of this property is widely considered to be among the best in Saumur.

As in most of the region, the bedrock of these sites is tuffeau, a porous chalk limestone which brings laser sharp acidity and finesse to the Chenin blanc and Cabernet Franc it produces. When you add in the cool climate of the Brézé hill, and the high calcium content of its tops soils, you get wine on a whole other level.

Arnaud’s crémant stands out as character driven expressions of local terroir. Made from fruit grown in some of the coolest, chalkiest sites in Brézé, these wines are fresh, long and nuanced.

We're amazed that wines of such caliber remain so affordable. With even better, limited newsletter pricing you should not hesitate to snag a handful of these delicious bottles now.

Arnaud Lambert Crémant de Loire Rosé, NV
When you want to bring the party to the next level, pink bubbles are the way to go!

Made of mostly high elevation Cabernet Franc, and aged two years on the lees, Arnaud’s rosé opens with a hint of seashell on the nose. The pallet then carries you through to a gorgeously silky foam with wild strawberry, peach and maraschino cherry. Earthy notes of sea salt and chalk on the dry finish round things out perfectly.