Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016 - 66

TOP 100 WINERIES 2016

F RANCE
XXXXXXXX
C HAMPAGNE

Jean-Baptiste
Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx
Lécaillon

Louis Roederer
"We make spring wines," Frédéric Rouzaud says of Roederer's style,
and it turns out that spring wines are pretty hard to resist. This year,
our panels recommended the entire range of Roederer Champagne,
all rating 90 points or better.
Pinot Noir on Clay: Rosé has become a specialty at Roederer, since Rouzaud's father, Jean-Claude, introduced Cristal Rosé in 1974. His idea
was to develop a terroir corollary to Cristal, introduced by his ancestor Louis Roederer in 1876, as a wine from the family's best vineyards
on chalk, presented in a clear bottle for the Russian tsar. For Cristal Rosé, Jean-Claude chose vineyards in Aÿ, where Roederer's pinot
noir vineyards grow on clay-limestone soils. "We grow pinot noir as
a red wine, with half the yields of Champagne," Frédéric says. "Then
the berries go through a quick maceration for one or two days, just
enough to get the color and not the tannins." In 2007, Roederer completed a cellar designed specifically for rosé production, and the wines
from that cellar have heightened the precision of Roederer's style.
Made by Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, who worked with Jean-Claude Rouzaud through the 1990s, the 2010 Rosé is a Champagne that feels like
it has been stripped of any artifice. It does not taste like a ghost of a
pinot noir from Burgundy, or a slightly rustic, tannic, red-fruited version of the firm's Brut. Instead, it's transparent, the delicate cherry
notes of pinot noir and crisp apple hints of chardonnay focusing
attention on freshness, on the pink color of spring that seems to drive
its energy. This is Champagne unbound.
Champagne from Chalk: The current vintage of Cristal, 2007, shares
that racy energy, its terroir expression reading in the tension and
length of the pale nectarine and fresh apple flavors, in the way those
flavors wrap the energy of the wine to hold it with gentleness. This is
a blend of pinot noir and chardonnay from grand cru vineyards in the
Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne and Côte des Blancs, a portion of the base wine matured in oak (15 percent). Like all Roederer's
66

WINE & SPIRITS

BUYING GUIDE 2017

Founded: 1776
Cellar master/viticulturist:
Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon
Owner: The Rouzaud family; Frédéric
Rouzaud, president
Acres owned: 600
Annual production: 300,000 cases
Estate grown: 70%
Importer: Maisons Marques &
Domaines, Oakland, CA
Website: louis-roederer.com

vintage wines, it comes entirely from estate-grown fruit
and does not undergo malolactic fermentation. Lécaillon now farms 165 acres under biodynamics, a program
he has been building since 2000. And Cristal is designed
to rise to most any challenge a vintage might present.
"In 2007, the spring was continental (dry and sunny)
but summer was more oceanic-very cool and wet,"
Lécaillon says. "On chalk, the vines have the deepest
root systems and lower yields," he explains. Those
well-drained soils and deep roots avoided dilution
during the summer, while the low yields helped for
better ripening at the sunny, windy end of August.
"That's why we can make Cristal so often, because
it is on chalk. In fact, 2007 was saved by the cool
summer, which allowed us to keep some brightness
and lightness despite picking very early."
A Gentler Touch: For the Brut Premier, Lécaillon
handles the challenges of Champagne's vintage variations with a different strategy, softening and enriching some of the
lots through malolactic fermentation, and blending in reserve wines
from stocks the firm holds in large oak casks. It's rounder and richer
on release than Roederer's vintage wines, with flavors of lemon
meringue over zesty orange-pith acidity, a gentler take on Roederer's
precision, clarity and freshness. -J.G.

TOP-SCORING WINES
XX
96 'XX
'10 Xxxxxxxx
Champagne
Xxxxxxx
Brut Rosé
Xxx $XX
$80(XX/XX)
(12/15)
XX
95 'XX
'07 Xxxxxxxx
Champagne
Xxxxxxx
Brut Cristal
Xxxxx $249
$XX (XX/XX)
(12/15)
XX
95 'XX
'09 Xxxxxxxx
Champagne
Xxxxxxx
Brut Blanc
Xxxxxde
$XX
Blancs
(XX/XX)
$86 (12/15)

http://www.louis-roederer.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016