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 The History Of Louis Roederer Champagne |
Louis Roederer 1809 – 1870
Louis Roederer is one of the largest remaining independent champagne houses owned by the same family since it was founded in 1776.
In the period 1832 – 1870, under the direction of Louis Roederer, the house gained top ranking world wide with sales of 2,500,000 bottles, including 390,000 in the United States and 660,000 in Russia. Louis Roederer II, who had succeeded his father created the cristal cuvee for Tsar Alexander II.
In 1909 Tsar Nicholas II nominated Louis Roederer as the official supplier to the Imperial Court of Russia.
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Chateau Policy
Louis Roederer policy is driven by commitment to quality and consistent style that always takes precedence over quantity. The volume of wine produced each year depends on expert vineyard management, a rigid set of qualitative criteria and natures willingness to comply with these requirements.
Control of the grape supply is Jean-Claude Rouzards paramount concern. Every year at least two-thirds of the grapes must come from the House’s own vineyards, a strict enforcement policy that is modelled on the methods applying to the Bordeaux Grands Crus classes. The number of bottles that can be produced and sold each year is therefore inevitably limited.
Master Craftsmen Of Great Wines.
Over the years Louis Roederer has inevitably been limited by Chateau policy. This together with a passion of wine has led the House to diversify, while always remaining true to its original purpose, the development of exceptional wines.
And so it is in the past two decades by creation or acquisition, the mother-company has surrounded itself with a flittering array of world-famous wine Houses and Estates *Champagne Deutz*Porto Ramos Pinto*Roederer Estate*Chateau de Pez*Chateau Haur-Beausejour*Delas et Freres and Maison Descaves.
Meticulous Care
Control of the quality of the grapes remains the key factor for Louis Roederer. Two thirds of the total always comes from the estate owned vineyards and meticulous care is taken to conserve the character of the individual wines whose infinite distinctions will enrich the composition of the cuvee.
Yields from each individual parcel, village or cru are always vinified separately, partly in small tanks & partly in wooden vats.
Minimal use of malolactic fermentation conserves the fruitiness and freshness of the wines. The period of maturation on lees is twice as long as traditionally applied in champagne.
Then there are the finishing touches: the addition of the superb reserve wines that only the House of Louis Roederer ages in oak vats; the meticulous selection of a remarkable range of dosage liqueurs and the ever-long ageing of the wines in the cellar after disgorgement.
Climate & Soil
Vines in Champagne have a harsh climate to contend with. The winters are rigorous with late frosts continuing through to spring.
To make the most of the sun, the vines are planted on slopes in shallow soils overlaying deep chalk bedrock. Paradoxically it is this precarious growing environment that gives the grapes their remarkable smoothness and freshness.
One Year On The Vines.
Throughout the year the Louis Roederer vineyards are tended by nearly 50 vineyard workers who carry out the seasonal tasks required to protect the vines against frost and disease. Winter is a time for pruning and tying-back, spring a time for training & disbudding.
Though summer until harvest time the grapes swell with sugar and develop their final colour. In July, if the yield threatens to be excessive the vineyard workers will carry out a green harvest, sacrificing several grape clusters per wine plant so as to encourage the even maturation of the remaining grapes.
A Remarkable Vineyard
The size, diversity and quality of the Louis Roederer vineyard is a major asset on which the house policy depends, because it protects the independence of the House and guarantees control over the style of its wines. The 200 ha area under vine (494 acres) is entirely located in the Grands and Premiers Crus of the three champagne regions.
-65 ha (185 acres) in the Cote des Blancs where Chardonnay is in its element, providing champagnes with their finesse and elegance.
-60 ha (160 acres) in the Montagne de Rems, planted with Pinot Noir that gives champagnes their strength and body.
-75 ha (149 acres) in the Valley de la Marne, where the Pinot Noir adds distinctive fragrance and roundness.
Grape Harvest
By tradition, and these days by law, all grapes must be harvested by hand.
Each year the Comte Interprofessionnel de Vinde Champagne (Interprofessionnel Committee of the Wines of Champagne) recommends the dates for the start of the harvest, which is generally 100 days after flowering. From mid-September for approximately 15 days, some 600 people will be hard at work in the Louis Roederer Vineyards, picking and loading the grapes that are then transported, quickly and as carefully as possible to one of the three pressing centres located in the heart of its vineyards.
A Mysterious Process of Alchemy
On arrival in Reims the musts are carefully placed in 240 small stainless steel tanks plus a few wooden tuns, each containing the production from 1.5 to two 2.5 hectares ( 2 – 5 acres) of vineyard. In this way the distinctive characteristics of each village and parcel are conserved, so maintaining an extraordinary range of wines from which to choose at blending time.
The musts now undergo the first fermentation with the temperature rigorously controlled to preserve the fruit aromas.
By January the wines are clear and ready to be tasted. Every morning, Jean-Claude Rouzaud, the cellar master and the House Oenologists meet to taste each wine in order to decide its proper classification: reserve wine, Brut Premier, Vintage or Cristal. In difficult years as much as 20 per cent of the wine may be eliminated altogether.
Reserve Wines
The reserve wines in the cellars are Champagne’s unique treasure. Each year the cellar master and a committee of tasters gather to select wines from certain villages and parcels that are worthy of promotion to reserve status. In this way, a rich variety of reserve wines are maintained from year to year.
These elite wines are then aged for 2 – 6 years in 150 French Oak Vats where they grow in character and complexity, becoming generous, rounded and supple. Reserve wines add the finishing touches to the final blend, enriching the young wines with that distinctive quality which is one of the secrets of Louis Roederer style. It is this that defines the style & consistent taste of the Brut Premier.
Blending
Champagne is essentially a wine born of blending – the pivotal skill of the noble art of the champagne wine maker.
By combining 10, 20 sometimes 30 wines from different grapes, soils and years in a almost infinite number of combinations, the winemaker has a greater chance of creating a wine that excels in richness, complexity and finesse.
The challenge with each Louis Roederer vintage is to create a certain style that is unique to each cuvee. Plainly there can be no scientific formula or hard-and-fast rules, only the winemaker’s intuition, memory and years of experience.
Patience is important too, because the character of the blend in progress can change in an instant, leading away from a goal that was nearly attained and suggesting exploration. Brut Premier is blended from four vintages, three of which are drawn from reserve wines. A vintage champagne is produced exclusively from the wines of a single exceptional harvest. The standards are even stricter for Cristal, champagne created only in the greatest years, with grapes from only the best vineyards.
Bottling & Prise de Mousse
After blending the winemaker adds the liqueur de triage, a solution of sugar and selected yeasts that kick start the effervescence. The wines are then bottled and taken down to the cellars where they are stacked horizontally ‘sur lattes’.
It is here in the still quiet of the cellars that the prise de mousse, literally the development of the mousse takes place. The wines gradually turn effervescent as the yeast slowly converts the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The fragile bottle at this point holds six atmospheres of pressure.
Mastering Time
Ageing on lees is exceptionally important for Louis Roederer because it is at this stage, while slowly improving in chalk cellars that the wine will achieve its peak maturity.
Complex aromas gradually combine to for the bouquet: the fruitiness of the grapes; the aromas of ageing; the substances released by the yeasts. Lastly the bubbles grow more delicate and the wine softens.
The ageing of a Louis Roederer champagne is significantly longer than that required by the rules of the wine appellation: three and a half years on average for a brut Premier; five years for a Vintage; 6 – 7 years for Cristal.
The Louis Roederer cellars hold an inventory of 13 million bottles, equivalent to nearly five years of sales.
Riddling & Disgorging
With time the yeasts form a light sediment which has to be eliminated before the champagne is fit for shipment. Two months before disgorging therefore, it is the task of the riddler to start rotating the bottles at the rate of 40,000 – 50,000 bottles per day. This process is known as remuage (riddling), with a slight turn of the wrist, a quarter turn to the left, an eighth of a turn to the right he encourages the sediment to slip towards the neck.
By the time remuage is complete, the bottles which were initially horizontal, will be neck-down.
The neck of the bottle, complete with its capsule, is then soaked for around 10 minutes in a refrigerating solution at a temperature of approximately –25º. This causes ice to form round the sediment which is ejected under pressure when the capsule is removed. This process is called ‘disgorging’.
Dosage
The dosage liqueur or liqueur de dosage is a mixture of reserve wines from previous harvests and cane sugar. It is added to balance the natural acidity of the champagne and gives it that delicate vinosity so characteristic of the Louis Roederer style.
Each year at harvest time the cellar master selects the finest wines from the best crus in the vineyard. After ageing for 6 – 10 years in the celebrated oak vats, these handpicked vines will then be used to produce the dosage liqueur.
The proportion of dosage liqueur determines the style of the champagne. Champagne without dosing is classified at extra-brut. After dosing it ranges from Brut to Sec or Demi-Sec depending on the quantity of dosage liqueur.
Finishing Touches
Following disgorging and the addition of the celebrated dosage liqueur, the champagnes are aged for a further six months to allow the liqueur to marry seamlessly with the wine, giving each bottle that sense of perfect balance.
The House of Roederer pays painstaking attention to every last detail. Cristal, for example, which is bottled in colourless glass, rather than the green glass used for other cuvees, is wrapped in yellow cellophane to protect the champagne from the light.
The Louis Roederer Style
The Roederer style is built on precision, patience and attention to detail, reflecting the spirit of perfection that is the mark of the House.
That perfection is apparent in every cuvee, every nuance and subtle variation that conspired to give each champagne its pleasurable taste: the outstanding smoothness of the bubbles; a taste that balances fruitiness and freshness; a smooth and subtle structure marked by a delicate vinosity that finishes on a sensation of fullness.
Brut Premier
Brut Premier is the embodiment of Louis Roederer style, combining all the fruitiness and freshness of youth with the vinosity of a fully mature wine. This is a structured and elegantly mature wine with as lively attack and a smooth palate.
Blend: 56% Pinot Nor, 34% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot Mevnier, including 10% of reserve wines from three former harvests, aged in oak casks for 2 – 3 years.
Maturation: An average of three year aging on lees, plus another six months after disgorging.
Tasting Notes: Pale golden colour. Delicate persistent beading. Rich but subtle bouquet with hints of hawthorn, almonds and toast. Clean attack, creamy structure.
The inclusion of reserve wines gives the complexity and roundness characteristic of Louis Roederer champagnes.
Choice of food: Brut Premier is excellent as an aperitif, but also readily accompanies light entrees based on fish or shellfish.
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Tuesday, May 13th 2008 16:26:08
If you order now the earliest available delivery date is Thursday, May 15th 2008.
However, if required you can choose a later date during checkout. |
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