Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesThis is a powerful and dense sparkling wine that is first and foremost a classic-quality wine. And then you think about the bubbles. Full-bodied with lots of brioche, pie crust and bread dough. Great finish. Five years on the lees. 52% chardonnay and 48% pinot noir. Drink now
Cellar Selection
52% Chardonnay; 48% Pinot Noir. Still just a bit tight in the nose with suggestions of tart cherries and fresh lemons framed by a nice bit of creamy yeast, the 2015 L’Ermitage from Roederer Estate is a vibrant, young-seeming wine with a very firm backbone of bristling acidity, and, even if exhibiting plenty of complexity right now, it strongly conveys the sense that further age will make what is a very good wine that much better yet. Pour it now as a bracing, palate-cleansing partner to seafood's of most every stripe, but know that even a few years of patience will bring manifold rewards.
Classically styled and expressively vibrant, this bubbly opens to flavors of baked apple, roasted hazelnut, clove, nutmeg and other spices. The finish fans out, building a lingering richness. Drink now.
Clean apple and pear scents carry straight through this wine, deepened by lees aging, brightened by racy, tart citrus notes that draw it into a pleasantly bitter finish. It’s a satisfying sparkler to serve with rich foods, like Japanese grilled eel. Or pour it with amberjack and Hamachi sashimi.
The 2015 L'Ermitage Brut is scented of baked apples, pastry and iodine. The palate offers ripe fruit and savory autolytic character, with softened acidity, creamy mousse and a citrusy finish.
Founded in 1982, Roederer Estate is nestled in Mendocino County’s fog-shrouded, Anderson Valley. As the California property of Champagne Louis Roederer, Roederer Estate builds upon a centuries-old tradition of fine winemaking. Roederer's unique winemaking style is based on two elements: complete ownership of its vineyards and the addition of oak-aged reserve wines to each year's blend or cuvee to create complex, dry and harmonious sparkling wines.
The crisp, fresh and rich flavors of Roederer Estate sparkling wines reflect the cool Anderson Valley that is home to their family-owned estate's 600 acres of vineyards. This protected valley in Northern California provides the ideal ripening conditions for their 100% estate-grown Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. The blending team is comprised of the winemakers from the California property as well as from Champagne Louis Roederer, ensuring that Roederer Estate remains the most French of the California sparklers.
Surrounded by redwood forests and often blanketed in chilly, ocean fog, the Anderson Valley is one of California’s most picturesque appellations. During the growing season, moist, cool, late afternoon air flows in from the Pacific Ocean along the Navarro River and over the valley's golden, oak-studded hills. High and low temperatures can vary as much as 40 or 50 degrees within a single day, allowing for slow and gentle ripening of grapes, which will in turn create elegantly balanced wines.
The Anderson Valley is best known for Pinot Noir made in a range of styles from delicate and floral to powerful and concentrated. Chardonnay also shines here, and both varieties are often utilized for the production of some of California’s best traditional method sparkling wines. The region also draws inspiration from Alsace and produces excellent Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.