Berries and dried grapefruit with hints of salty biscuits, toast and flint on the nose of this dry Champagne. Very savory yet rich, broad shouldered and textured, too, with a firm,chalky finish. From lieu-dit La Riviere in Cumieres. Drink now or hold.

This has pretty and elegant aromas of pears, apple blossoms, grapefruit and chalk. It’s silky, fresh and beautifully balanced on the palate, with very soft bubbles. Based on 2021, with reserve wine from a perpetual reserve created in 2012, plus reserve wines kept in oak from 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Drink now.

The 2018 Louis Roederer Brut Nature Rosé is crafted this year from a cépages of sixtyfour percent pinot noir, twenty percent pinot meunier and sixteen percent chardonnay. Twenty percent of the vins clairs were barrel-fermented for this vintage and none go through malolactic fermentation. The wine takes its delicate salmon color from a five day “infusion” for a portion of the pinot noir, with the wines macerating with the skins at cooler temperatures prior to being blended with the other juice to co-ferment. The wine’s aromatic constellation is vibrant and nicely ripe, wafting from the glass in a mix of peach, fresh apricot, chalky soil tones, a touch of orange peel, fresh-baked sourdough bread, dried flowers and incipient notes of smokiness in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and nicely generous on the attack, with fine depth at the core, good soil undertow, refined, delicate mousse, good acids and grip and a long, complex and beautifully balanced finish. This is quite approachable out of the blocks in 2018. 2025-2055.

The 2017 Louis Roederer Brut Rosé Millésime is a lovely wine that is drinking beautifully right out of the blocks, though of course, with the structure to also age long and gracefully. The wine’s cépages is sixty percent pinot noir and forty percent chardonnay, with twenty-four percent of the vins clairs going through malo in this vintage. Just under thirty percent of the still wines were raised in casks this year and the finishing dosage is eight grams per liter. The wine is a lovely salmon color (and just a touch deeper than most vintage Rosés from Maison Roederer) and delivers a refined bouquet of white peach, tangerine, rye bread, chalky soil tones, orange peel, dried flowers and just a hint of the smokiness to come with bottle age. On the palate the wine is crisp, complex and full-bodied, with a beautiful core of fruit, lovely soil undertow, a fine girdle of acidity, elegant mousse and a long, beautifully balanced and precise finish. This is first class Rosé! 2025-2060.

The 2016 vintage of Cristal is composed from a blend of fifty-eight percent pinot noir and forty-two percent chardonnay. Just under a third of the vins clairs in this vintage were barrelfermented and the wine was finished with a dosage of seven grams per liter. Chef du Cave Jean- Baptiste Lécaillon compares the classical style of the 2016 Cristal to recent classics such as 2002, 2008 and 2012. The wine is utterly refined on the nose, wafting from the glass in a constellation of peach, golden delicious apple, a hint of mirabelle, almond, brioche, a complex base of chalky soil tones, white flowers and just a whisper of oak. On the palate the wine is crisp, precise and fullbodied, with a great girdle of acidity, superb depth of pure fruit at the core, great salty soil signature and grip, elegant mousse and outstanding length and complexity on the perfectly balanced finish. Like the 2008 and 2012 were in their youth, this is a very young wine that absolutely deserves a decade in the cellar before broaching, as there is so much more here to unfold if time is given a chance to work its magic! 2035-2085+.