Summer, sun, meeting friends…. We long for these precious moments. For the perfect celebration of these instances, CHANDON launched, for the first time in the European market, a drink that embodies the sun. Elegant yet authentic; simple yet fascinating.
CHANDON Garden Spritz is an extraordinary sparkling wine with a special twist: a unique orange bitter, handcrafted from local Argentine oranges, herbs and spices. No more, just naturally delicious: no artificial flavours, no artificial colouring; and all of this with fewer calories! Who could say no to that?! Ready to serve and already chilled in the bottle, perfect for sharing. Because the aperitif is also about cooling down, of course!
CHANDON’s winemaking team in Mendoza, Argentina, is always exploring. CHANDON Garden Spritz is inspired by the well-known Argentinian penchant for bitter flavors such as Yerba Maté and Fernet – flavors that seduce the palate. A delicious, top-class dry Cuvée, made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Semillon grapes grown at a height of around 1,000 meters on the Mendoza winery, forms the basis of this sparkling wine. The perfect summer drink – an authentic taste experience for all those who are looking for something truly new in their glass.
The handcrafted aromatic and refreshing orange bitters are made from perfectly ripe Valencia oranges. They are grown on a pesticide-free, sustainable farm in Entre Rios, northeast Argentina, which has been run by the same family for three generations. CHANDON macerates the orange peel in grape brandy with a selection of herbs and spices from the finest terroirs. The result is a delicious bitter orange liqueur.
In Switzerland, CHANDON Garden Spritz has is available in Paul Ullrich stores and at ullrich.ch for CHF 24.90 (RRP including VAT).
The first sip of summer
CHANDON Garden Spritz evokes a delightful summer spent at sunny gatherings with good friends. Crafted with half the sugar of any other spritz, it has no artificial flavours and no artificial colours. It’s nothing more than naturally delicious.
Garden Spritz takes the exceptional CHANDON sparkling wine and adds a unique twist: the House’s own bitter-orange liqueur, handcrafted with locally sourced oranges, herbs and spices. A secret artisanal recipe, ready to serve, ready to share – ideally drenched over ice with a sliver of fresh orange and a sprig of rosemary.
CHANDON’s winemakers in Argentina are used to uncovering the unexpected: combine moreish bitter flavours with local Valencia oranges of exceptional quality, and you have the perfect authentic summer serve.
It’s a refined spritz for those seeking new frontiers in their glass, handcrafted by CHANDON’s winemaking team in Mendoza, Argentina, using local handpicked grapes and oranges, enhanced with rarefied botanicals.
The best ingredients for the perfect Spritz
A delicious top-quality dry cuvée of the house’s sparkling wine, made with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Semillon grapes grown at an altitude of around 1,000m at an estate in Mendoza. Here, the terroir and climate naturally favour the freshness, ripeness and acidity required. The wine is made using CHANDON’s slow-ferment long Charmat method to preserve this all-important true fruit expression.
To this are added the house-made zesty, aromatic, refreshing orange bitters. They are crafted from perfectly ripe Valencia oranges, grown on a pesticide-free sustainable farm in Entre Rios, north-eastern Argentina that has been cultivated by one family for three generations.
Once the oranges are peeled, some of the rinds oven-dried, using some dried and some fresh in the blend. The rinds are then macerated in grape brandy, along with a selection of herbs and spices from the world’s finest terroirs. The result is a delectable bitter-orange liqueur. Once blended with the sparkling wine, it’s summer in a bottle.
All you have to add is ice, a fresh orange twist, a sprig of rosemary, and friends. Then toast the moment, any way you like.
Meet the winemaker: Ana Paula Bartolucci
Ana Paula Bartolucci is a winemaker at CHANDON Argentina. She is the creator of CHANDON Garden Spritz.
“I was born in Mendoza, less than 60km from the CHANDON winery, so I can say that CHANDON Garden Spritz is authentically Argentinean. We knew we wanted something bitter, because this country loves bitter flavours. We drink maté every day; we drink Fernet and vermouth. The quality of our oranges, as well as our wine, is a source of pride in Argentina.
For this composition, our winemakers studied oranges as if they were grapes in order to craft the best spritz experience possible. We selected a traditional, sustainable family farm that doesn’t use any pesticides on the oranges. That was important to us, because we’re only using the peels.
We identified the very best time to harvest in order to get the specific aromas we wanted. In 2020, we bought 25 tons of oranges. We give the juice to local schools and soup kitchens. We craft the peels in different ways – fresh, macerated or baked to give a caramel, chocolate, candied flavour. The smell while they’re cooking is incredible! The herbs and spices we use come from all over the world, and we macerate each one, and the peels, separately for a variety of durations in order to give us a huge range of options for blending.”
“Meanwhile we make the base wine with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Semillon grapes from the CHANDON estate. Each variety is vinified separately using our slow-ferment long Charmat method. Blending the final Spritz is a delicate process.
For months, we worked through so many proposals that weren’t quite right. For proposal 64, I made it stronger. I wanted enough bitterness to invite you to taste again – the tonic effect. We tasted blind – and that was it. Number 64 was the one.”
“CHANDON Garden Spritz is something to be enjoyed, with friends, on so many occasions. With food, even. The 187ml size has sold really well – it’s just a little treat to elevate the moment. It’s unique, really. And that’s right for us.
CHANDON is at the vanguard of sparkling wine, and we have always been innovative, so it’s right that we continue to be. We have spent four years developing this product and now we’re inspiring new consumers. I’m proud of it.”
Chandon Garden Spritz: key facts
Oranges
2.5 tons of oranges hand-peeled per year
704 hours spent hand-peeling oranges
1400 wood cases holding 18kg of oranges each purchased
100km of orange peels used per year (1.8m per orange)
Base wine
100% of the grapes are hand- harvested
1000m above sea level is the lowest altitude of the vineyards, 1650m the highest altitude
6 months’ minimum maturation for the base wines before blending with the orange bitters
Base wine is CHANDON Brut, nominated best Argentine sparkling wine at the 2020 CSWWC competition
Recipe
64 proposals developed before reaching the perfect recipe
1 secret blend: a mix of spices for woody and warm aromatic notes, herbs and plants for herbal aromatic notes, and orange peels for bitter aromatic notes.
4 years to reach the perfect bitter-orange liqueur recipe
0.5 tons of spices purchased per year
Herbs and spices sourced from the best terroirs in the world: Argentina and Brazil for the fresh herbs; India, Madagascar and Central America for the spices
100% slow-macerated ingredients: from 1000 hours (6 weeks) to 4500 hours (6 months) depending on the herb or spice.
All spice and herb aromas extracted individually
No artificial flavours and no artificial colours are used at any stage of production
ABV
11.5% vol
Sugar Content
60g/l allows the perfect balance between acidity and bitterness
50% less sugar than an ordinary spritz
Where to find
Inclusive bars, restaurants and terraces; design fairs, fashion weeks, arts and crafts gatherings and galleries. Selected retail outlets and e-stores.
Responsible craft
100% of the oranges are free from residual pesticides
100% of the oranges are purchased from a sustainability-certified family farm
No artificial colours
No artificial flavours
100% of the juice extracted from the oranges is distributed to local schools
5 tons of waste (seeds, peels, pulp) are used for compost in the vineyards
750g is the weight of the bottle: 25% lighter than the average sparkling-wine bottle, making it one of the most environmentally conscious in the category.
Curious explorers: rooted, inclusive, adventurous
CHANDON is a community of winemakers rooted in a domain on which the sun never sets, a proud scion of the champagne leader, Moët & Chandon. Since the foundation in 1959 in Argentina, CHANDON has become an independent Maison, crafting exceptional sparkling wines with a unique personality and its own terroirs around the world. In 60 years of excellence, the pioneering spirit that is embedded in the Maison’s DNA has taken them all over the globe, to California, Brazil, Australia, China and India.
CHANDON now comprises six connected wineries, all making outstanding wines, united by their shared personality and values. Their mission has always been to open up a world of possibilities in sparkling wine. It is as relevant today as it was six decades ago.
“It all starts with a pronounced taste for the unknown. Curiosity is the key.” Philippe Mével, Chief Winemaker, Chandon Brazil.
Chandon’s values are a way of life, upheld by everyone at the Maison and all its collaborative partners.
“We know that the earth is where it all starts: it holds the key to our brand. We are profoundly linked to our terroirs and cultures and committed to expressing them in our wines. We are a collaborative network, a community of 16 winemakers of seven different nationalities, sharing our skills and ideas. We are diverse, outward looking and responsive, and we attract those who are like-minded. We want to give and to mark joy; so everyone is welcome at our table.
We have always sought out the unexpected. From day one, we have been committed to discovering new and unexpected lands, people and methods to keep our sparkling wines at the top of their category. That’s how we’ve taken a traditional product and made it modern. It is our inspiration that prompts us to seek out the unexpected, to look out into the world, to go beyond the familiar.
We believe there is more risk in not taking risks than in taking them. This boldness is what it means to be a pioneer. From day one we have done what others did not dare to do: we have rewritten the rulebook on premium sparkling. Community is our strength. Our flair for exploration and our curiosity unite us. We travel, we harvest, we exchange. We are a network of skilled individuals who share knowledge, insights and practical help. Each of us knows we cannot do this alone.”
CHANDON: six identities, one family, one brand
“The great thing about CHANDON is the fact that it’s one brand with six different identities. There’s diversity, but there is also a family resemblance.”, Pauline Lhote, Chief Winemaker, Chandon California
With 1,389 hectares, Chandon is the largest sparkling-wine estate worldwide, with 1,389 hectares 100 per cent dedicated to sparkling wine production!
Its lands are fundamental to CHANDON’s identity. Consumers should be able to taste a place in a glass. Across the six wineries in Argentina, California, Brazil, Australia, China and India, the Maison now has 1,389 hectares under vine. This covers the majority of their grape needs. The remainder is provided by trusted grower partners, who are carefully trained, supervised and supported to meet the high quality standards. Many of these relationships are with family-run growers and go back decades. These links are a crucial part of CHANDON’s collaborative ethos.
Over the last 10 years, the company focused on the goal of sustainability. They have increased their use of renewable energy and recycling, and focused on soil health and polyculture as well as minimizing use of chemicals.
It is a work in progress. Across all its lands, CHANDON is precisely analysing its carbon footprint, using the data gathered to drive an action plan to meet enhanced sustainability criteria by 2022. They want to take responsible sparkling winemaking to the next level.
A world of possibilities
CHANDON people are a multi-talented, multi-cultural family of individuals. The diverse teams handle everything from viticulture to marketing, picking to bottling. They are united in a single goal: to make outstanding sparkling wines.
The company culture is supportive, open and respectful. Everyone in the CHANDON family has the benefit of centuries of inherited expertise, but each team is working in different conditions, some using different varieties and methods, harvesting at different times.
CHANDON’s innovation extends beyond terroir to technique. Because they are unrestrained winemakers, they have dedicated themselves to honing a time- honoured craft, putting it to the test in unusual situations, and using their ingenuity to create something exceptional. Thus method follows style. For some wines, traditional methods are used; for others the Maison’s own slow-ferment long Charmat method is used, whereby wines are fermented in tank and continuously stirred to incorporate creaminess from the lees.
The primary goal is to express their personality, their terroirs and the fruit that the earth gives us. As a community, CHANDON continuously improves its knowledge through open discussion and on-site assistance. Hence, their winemakers have monthly virtual meetings where they share information, insights and inspiration. Their combined know-how is their most valuable asset, and sharing is both their way of doing things and their raison d’être.
CHANDON also takes their engagement with their teams and the communities they rely on very seriously. The company is involved in a number of community initiatives throughout its houses, from Educate in Harvest – a teaching program for children of pickers during the Mendoza harvest – to educational mural campaigns at their newest house, CHANDON India.
CHANDON: a celebration of today
It has been an epic journey. In the late 1950s, Robert-Jean de Vogüé, at the time President at Moët & Chandon, had the vision, courage and stamina to redefine luxury bubbles.
He was convinced that the road less travelled led to an exciting future for quality sparkling wine. So he set off on a journey to find new, unexpected lands in Argentina. What he found there, in Mendoza – a high-altitude semi-desert in the Andean foothills – was the perfect terroir for pure, expressive, fruit-driven world-class fizz. He decided his hunch – to export the savoir-faire, not the bottles – was right. And so it began: CHANDON’s tradition of innovation.
“Too many have closed their shutters, I have opened many windows.”, Robert-Jean de Vogüé, Founder of Chandon
Today we celebrate Chandon’s arrival in Europe with their newest innovation, CHANDON Garden Spritz, the latest drop from the Maison’s unexpected lands, and a fresh, elegant new livery for a brand that has been pioneering for more than 60 years. Here’s to Chandon. Here’s to you.
