“The 2015 Louis Roederer “Starck Nature” Rosé non-dosé has a lovely salmon color and is relatively deeply hued for a Rosé bottling from Maison Roederer. The wine is composed from a cépages of fifty percent pinot noir, thirty-seven percent chardonnay and thirteen percent pinot noir, with all of the grapes grown in the commune of Cumières. The wine takes its color from a percentage of the pinot noir harvested in the lieu à dit of les Chèvres, which is segregated and macerates on its skins to take on a bit of color, prior to the infusion pinot noir being blended back in with the other vins clairs. Just over ten percent of the vins clairs are barrel-fermented, and thirty percent went through malolactic fermentation for the 2015 bottling. The wine offers up a beautiful nose of strawberries, rhubarb, a touch of tangerine, gentle brown spice tones, chalky soil and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a fine core and soil signature, elegant mousse, bright acids and a long, well-balanced and classy finish. This is excellent Brut Nature! 2023-2040.”

“As readers know, I seldom drink Brut Nature bottlings when they are first released, as I prefer to let them soften up their acids with some bottle age. However, the 2015 Philippe Starck bottling from Maison Louis Roederer was the exception, as I thoroughly enjoyed drinking this bottle in its relative youth. The wine is composed in 2015 from a blend of forty-six percent chardonnay, thirty-seven percent pinot noir and seventeen percent pinot meunier, with just under a quarter of the vins clairs barrel-fermented in this vintage. This is a non-malo wine and offers up a superb bouquet of apple, white peach, fresh-baked bread, a lovely base of soil, dried flowers and a nice touch of upper register smokiness. On the palate the wine is bright, deep and full-bodied, with a lovely core, excellent mineral drive and grip, refined mousse, well-buffered acids and a long, complex and quite stylish finish. Fine, fine juice. 2023-2050+.”

“It has now been a year since I first tasted Louis Roederer’s “Collection 242” non-vintage Brut, which is the heir apparent to the maison’s Brut Premier bottling. The wine has blossomed beautifully since I first tasted it and is clearly now the new standard bearer for excellence in a nonvintage Brut from a Grande Marque. The wine is from the base year of 2017 and composed from a cépages of forty-two percent chardonnay, thirty-six percent pinot noir and twenty-two percent pinot meunier. As I mentioned in my last note on the wine, this bottling includes twelve percent reserve wines ranging back to 2009, as well as one-third of the blend that is taken from a solera of “perpetual reserve” that was begun for this bottling in the 2012 vintage and will be included in each subsequent release of the Collection series. The wine was finished with a dosage of eight grams per liter and has blossomed beautifully today, offering up a deep and complex nose of apple, peach, a superb base of soil, fresh-baked bread, gentle nuttiness, dried flowers, a hint of oak and plenty of upper register smokiness. On the palate the wine is deep, complex and full-bodied, with beautiful precision and bounce, a fine girdle of acidity, lovely mineral undertow, elegant mousse and a long, vibrant and very, very classy finish. Non-vintage Brut simply does not get better than this marvelous wine! I am going out tomorrow and buying some for my cellar, as this wine is going to age brilliantly. 2023-2045.”

“Louis Roederer’s new release of “Collection 243” non-vintage Brut is only the second in their new series, which I strongly feel is one of the most significant new editions to the firmament of Champagne in many years. It has taken non-vintage Brut bottlings to a new level and it will be interesting to see if any other Grandes Marques choose to match Maison Roederer’s level of quality for their own non-vintage bottlings in the coming years. The Collection 243 is from the base year of 2018, with fifty-nine percent of the cuvée from this vintage, and also includes thirtyone percent of the solera of reserve wines started in 2012 for this bottling and ten percent oak-aged reserve wines made from younger vines in the Cristal vineyards. The cépages ended up being forty-two percent chardonnay, forty percent pinot noir and eighteen percent pinot meunier, with just under one-third of the vins clairs going through malolactic fermentation. The wine was finished with a dosage of eight grams per liter and offers up a bright and complex bouquet of apple, pear, warm bread, a touch of hazelnut, orange zest, a beautiful base of soil tones, gentle smokiness and a topnote of dried flowers. On the palate the wine is pure, precise and full-bodied, with a superb core of fruit, elegant mousse, fine backend mineral drive and a very long, complex and impeccably balanced finish. With more than forty percent reserve wines in the blend this year, the Collection 243 is drinking exceptionally well out of the blocks, but has the girdle of acidity to also age long and gracefully. This is very sophisticated non-vintage Brut! 2023-2050+.”

“The NV Carte Blanche (243rd Blend) is a fabulous example of this style of higher-dosage Champagne. Green apple, mint, jasmine and lime all grace this mid-weight, wonderfully charming offering. I would prefer to drink it over the next handful of years. Dosage is 38 grams per liter.”