A Pair of Great 2012s from Roederer
This past week, I was treated to not just one, but two great 2012s from the great house Louis Roederer. This producer has been making great wines since 1776 but is never content to rest and is now pushing the envelope harder than any other major house in Champagne. When I started doing the Champagne buying twenty years ago, you could count the small growers practicing biodynamics on one hand. I never would have guessed that I would be writing today about two biodynamic vintage releases from one of the most famous names in Champagne.
Champagne Louis Roederer’s vintage wines have always been 100% estate. Only the nonvintage wines use a proportion of purchased fruit, allowing for complete control over the viticulture. While most houses are content to get the grapes in and make winemaking decisions later on which plots go into which wines, at Roederer, each vintage wine is its own estate. Since they know what they want from Cristal, Brut Vintage, Blanc de Blancs, Rosé vintage and now the two Nature wines, they start at the beginning by farming these plots for these wines. In 2012, this approach reached a real high point with the release of the first completely bio-dynamic Cristal and the first Brut Nature Rosé.
Stephanie Vidales and her boyfriend Jake joined Cinnamon and me for dinner last week, and I opened the 2012 Louis Roederer & Philippe Starck Brut Rosé Nature Champagne as the aperitif and paired it with Jamon Iberico that I carved fresh from the leg. It is very difficult to make great rosé Champagne and doubly difficult to do it with zero dosage. This Nature from Roederer is a revelation and will be on my list of greatest Champagnes of the year without any doubt. It is composed of 55% Pinot Noir, 25% Meunier and 20% Chardonnay, all from the due south-facing amphitheater village of Cumieres. The pairing with the ham was a big success, showing off the perfect texture and laid-back red cherry fruit in the heart of this Champagne. Many brut zeros are austere, and some are even harsh- but this wine did not need any dosage. The near-infinite length and effortless style still have me under the wine’s spell a week later.
We all work extra days this time of year, and this Sunday was my day to be the cavalry and reinforce our sales crew. I opened the 2012 Louis Roederer "Cristal" Brut Champagne after we closed and shared it with the crew. While the 2008 and 2009 vintages were entirely organically grown, the 2012 Cristal is the first to be completely biodynamic. These Cristal vineyards are spread across the chalkiest areas of the Grande Vallée de la Marne, Montagne de Reims and Côtes des Blancs that Champagne Louis Roederer owns. This wine is composed of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, and this year they have increased the amount that is fermented in large wooden barrels to 32%. The dosage is 7.5 grams per liter. Cristal is made for the connoisseur who has been lucky enough to taste a lot of nice things, and this 2012 is as elegant as one could wish for. The extra foudre fermentation has brought some subtle Christmas spice to this creamy, clean and extraordinarily long Champagne. I brought the last bit home and had it with Cinnamon, and as usual, the last drops were the best, boding very well for the future. That being said, I think that this is a wine that one can drink while waiting for ones 2008s to mature.
A toast to you!
Gary
