page_title: Crémant d'Alsace
section_title: Geology and orography
hierarchical_section_title: Crémant d'Alsace / Geography / Geology and orography
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Graphique des précipitations et des températures à Strasbourg. Moyennes entre 1949 et 2001. Source des données&#160;: http://meteonew.free.fr/dossiers/rechauffement_strasbourg.htm Propre travail. Réalisé avec Microsoft Excel.
context_page_description: Crémant d'Alsace is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée for sparkling wines made in the Alsace wine region of France. Produced since 1900, the Crémant d'Alsace AOC was recognized in 1976 by the INAO and the designation Crémant regulated by the European Parliament in 1996.
  Crémant d'Alsace is usually made of some blend among pinot blanc, pinot gris, pinot noir, riesling, auxerrois and chardonnay. Crémant d'Alsace rosé, while rare, is made of pinot noir.
  The method of production is identical with that of champagne. In comparison to champagne, crémant d'Alsace is usually at a lower price levels; crémant d'Alsace cannot age in cellar as long as champagne. In 2009, 31 million bottles were produced.
context_section_description: Alsace plain occupies the south part of the Upper Rhine Plain, which formed from a collapse during the Oligocene and is followed since the Miocene by the river Rhine.
  The vineyard stays on the lower slopes of the Vosges Mountains, on the fault zone of the graben, covered by alluvial fans of the many rivers and creeks flowing from the nearby heights.
  This explains the variety of the subsurface materials and their succession forming a true mosaic: limestones, granites, shales, gneiss or sandstones.
  Mainly, the upper part of the slopes of the subvosgian hills consists of old rocks: plutons and metamorphic rocks like granite, gneiss or slate.
  Vine-planted parcels are rather steep and climb up to 478 m height (near Osenbach).
  The lower part of the slopes consists of layers of limestones or marls covered by loess where the slope is rather smooth.
  Finally, the plain consists of a thick layer of alluvium deposited by the Rhine (silt and gravels). This zone is very more fertile than the two previous with an important aquifer mainly close to the surface (less than 5 m deep): the Upper Rhine aquifer.
caption: Means of temperature and precipitation near Strasbourg (1949-2001)
exif: {}