Champagne Louis Roederer - Collection 242 Brut

Bettane & Desseauve

About the estate:

Founded in Reims in 1776, Roederer is still owned by the same family, represented today by Frédéric Rouzaud. In recent years, the estate has been a pioneer, being the first to gradually convert its vast 242-hectare vineyard to organic and biodynamic farming (126 hectares). Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon, an eminent cellar master and agronomist, never ceases to impress with his intimate knowledge of every plot on the estate and the decisions he makes. The exceptional Cristal prestige cuvée comes exclusively from vines growing on chalky soils. The vintage wines and the core of the non-vintage brut, now called Collection—with a number indicating the base year of the blend—come from soils that are still calcareous but more clay-rich. The wines intended for the longest aging do not undergo malolactic fermentation, which requires harvesting the grapes at high ripeness, often close to 11° Brix. The current wines are certainly the most remarkable ever produced, including the surprising red and white Coteaux-Champenois, along with the highly exclusive Camille cuvées.

Guide Hachette des vins

About the estate:

A house founded in Reims in 1776. Louis Roederer took over as owner in 1833, expanded the business, and acquired vineyards. In the 1870s, the house, which produced 2.5 million bottles, had Russia as its main client, where Tsar Alexander II asked Louis Roederer to create a prestige champagne for him: the famous Cristal cuvée was launched (1876). With a vineyard of 240 hectares (comprising Premier Cru and Grand Cru plots) accounting for two-thirds of its supply, the company is still run by the founders’ descendants. The latest, Frédéric Rouzaud, now heads a group that owns Deutz Champagnes and numerous prestigious wines, from the Médoc to Provence, and from Portugal to California.

Robert Parker - Wine Advocate

About the wine:

“Roederer’s Brut Premier was created in the 1980s to prove to consumers that we could offer consistent quality with a blend that compensated for vintages that were less than perfectly ripe,” explains Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon. “We blended with the goal of achieving ripeness. The concept behind the Brut Collection is the opposite: we seek freshness and embrace uniqueness, which we highlight by listing the year of each blend. This project has been in the works since 2012, when Lecaillon set aside 21,000 liters of wine to create a Perpetual Reserve aged in large tanks without malolactic fermentation. Our sourcing has also evolved: fewer musts come from cooperatives, and only vineyards cultivated without the use of herbicides are included in the blend. A dedicated team oversees the entire process, visiting each grower three times a year. And winemaking is done plot by plot to yield the maximum number of components for the blend. Collection 242 is based on the 2017 vintage (56%), supplemented by 34% reserve wines from the Réserve Perpétuelle established in 2012 and 10% reserve wines aged in large oak casks.

RVF - La Revue du Vin de France / Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France

About the wine:

We are immediately captivated by the precision and vibrancy of the aromas: raspberry, yuzu, pepper… The nose is subtly enhanced by a patina resulting from aging in large oak casks. A superb example of champagne—refreshing, creamy, and full of nuanced flavors. With beautiful vinous depth, it is a very accomplished brut. A true benchmark. And finally, in a blind tasting, we recognized—by its style—Roederer’s Collection 242 brut, based on the 2017 vintage.

About the estate:

Here is one of Champagne’s finest standard-bearers. This family-run estate draws on a vineyard comprising 420 plots, predominantly planted with Pinot Noir, 70% of which are classified as Grand Cru. Viticulture is a true priority here, particularly through the transition to biodynamic farming. Soil management practices are becoming widespread. Only a vineyard as exceptional as this can account for the unique level of harmony and concentration found in such large volumes. It is no coincidence that the cellar master, Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, is not only an oenologist but also an agronomist, just like Jean-Claude Rouzaud, who built the current empire of Roederer’s major international vineyards. In a wise move, he entrusted the reins of the group early on to his son, Frédéric Rouzaud, the current president. Here, malolactic fermentation is only partial and sporadic (between 25% and 50%). The juices are aged on lees in tanks and oak casks to give them body.