At Louis Roederer,
everything is a question of taste.
The invaluable plot-by-plot system
Our vineyards have a pronounced northern character and the estate’s land is the source of our quality wines. All our parcels—the estate, which originally comprised 100 hectares acquired in 1850, now extends over 240 hectares—were carefully chosen and acquired in the best terroirs of Champagne, in the Grands and Premiers Crus of the Montagne de Reims, the Côte des Blancs, and the Vallée de la Marne. The men and women of Louis Roederer have a profound attachment to the vineyards—this is what distinguishes our House from all the others. All the wine growers are perfectly acquainted with their parcels and even each vine, which they tend year after year. This creates a unique link between the vines and the men and women who devote all their time and energy to them.
The vineyards: a veritable ‘laboratory’
The land is the source of our quality champagnes, but it is the painstaking work of our wine growers and oenologists at every step of their creation that makes them great champagnes. Wine growers and creators in a constant quest for perfection, the men and women who create the Louis Roederer champagnes know how to nurture the parcels—which are particularly exposed to the changeable climate—, by adapting the viticulture to the type of soil in each parcel. Our wine growers are perpetuating the age-old tradition of attaining optimal grape maturity while respecting the land and environmental biodiversity. The increasing use of biodynamic cultivation enables them to further enrich the palette of flavours at their disposal.
A noble and fully controlled process
The grapes from our 410 parcels are pressed on site. The resulting juices are preserved separately, according to their parcel of origin, in over 450 small stainless steel fermenting tanks, where the fermentation process starts. This precise selection process and plot-by-plot vinification ensures that the origins and traceability of the grapes are respected and provides a perfect record of the fruit from each row of vines. The contents of the fermenting tanks is tasted every day and classified into families of aromas, flavours, characters … Constantly tasted and reclassified, our wines gradually mature and develop their own unique characters.
A perfect balance
The wines need to be blended to create the Louis Roederer champagnes: the unique blends are the fruit of the intuition and talent of a team of women and men led and guided by the Cellar Master, who guarantees the integrity of the House’s style. The diverse sensibilities and different talents are the key to Louis Roederer’s uniqueness. With an extraordinary palette of wines at their disposal, the Cellar Master and the oenologists create their wines—the cuvées—, which are bottled when they have attained a perfect equilibrium. They then undergo a new phase of fermentation for 3 to 6 weeks…
The importance of time
The magical process continues in the quiet dark cellars, where the compositions of the oenologists are finally transformed into champagnes. Louis Roederer’s team has worked hard to bring the wine to this point—now time is the key factor. The only intervention required on the bottles is daily riddling, a process that ensures that any suspended deposits settle in the bottlenecks. The deposits are then removed, leaving a perfectly clear and luminous champagne that only requires the final touch: the champagne will only be complete after adding the liqueur d’expédition, which distinguishes the House’s unique style. The wine is ‘the fruit of the input of everyone involved in its creation’, and each of our champagnes perpetuates the traditions of the House, its quest for perfection, and its spirit of innovation and experimentation; this paves the way for future heirs to ‘do even better’ than their predecessors…
for tomorrow’s wines — Louis Roederer’s quest for perfection