Roederer Estate

Roederer Estate

L'Ermitage

2003

Anderson Valley

L'ERMITAGE, Roederer Estate's special Tête de Cuvée, is a sparkling wine made only in exceptional years from pre-selected, Estate-grown grapes from our vineyards. Carrying on the tradition of Champagne Louis Roederer in France, Roederer Estate produces its sparkling wines in the traditional French methode and adds special oak-aged reserve wines to each blend. L'ERMITAGE debuted with the 1989 vintage.

Winemaking

Roederer Estate wines are made with juice from just the cuvée pressing; no première or deuxième taille is used. The concept of the vintage L'Ermitage is the same one that is used in Champagne: Only the best of the vintage is selected. These are exceptional wines that create a "noble" (special) blend that allows for longer aging, which produces a fine wine with elegance and finesse. Four members of the blending team include winemakers from Champagne Louis Roederer in France and Roederer Estate in California, together totaling over 130 years of experience.

The wine for the dosage added to the L'ERMITAGE 2003 was 2004 wine liquor aged for 5.5 years in a French oak cask. Following disgorgement, L'ERMITAGE 2003 was aged an additional six months (minimum) on the cork prior to release.

Tasting Notes

Fine tiny bubbles and a long lasting mousse are the usual footprints of the L'ERMITAGE cuvée. This cuvée is showing great notes of "tarte tatin": baked apples and buttery crust, with notes of apricot and delicate vanilla bean. The mouthfeel is creamy, expresses flavors of quince and bread crust, with a clean and crisp yet long finish.

Harvest

The 2003 vintage was fairly wet with more than 11 inches of rain during the growing season. Overall, spring and summer were mild and even though we had an early bud break we ended up picking our grapes fairly late. Long hang time is beneficial to the grapes to allow for ripeness (sugar maturity) as well as phenolic maturity (aromas, tannins and anthocyanins). The crop quantity was above average and the fruit was well balanced in acidity.

Technical Information