Louis Roederer Collection 243.

"It was a desire for freedom, to take the quality of our multi-vintage blends to an even higher level, that prompted us to take a new course of action and to create Collection, a champagne that is vibrant and contemporary! — Frédéric Rouzaud, CEO.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Driven by a new ambition and desire for freedom, the Louis Roederer Champagne House is entering a new phase in its history with the creation of Collection. Current times, climate change and the importance of sustainable and respectful winegrowing practices that accentuate the qualities of the terroir have become central to our ethos and our work.

The finest works are often forged by constraint and adversity. Driven by a new energy, the Maison decided to reinvent its blends, reshape its expertise and rethink its methods in order to fall into step with Nature's new tempo and continue to evolve, advance and adapt.

SOURCED FROM THE "HEART OF THE TERROIR"

All the plots of vines used for the creation of Collection, i.e. those owned by Louis Roederer as well as those belonging to our longstanding partners, have therefore been reevaluated to retain only those that are best suited to the Collection identity, rooted in the heart of the Champagne terroir.

This quest for the Champagne region’s most ‘expressionist’ terroirs has led us to a myriad of different origins, lieu-dits, exposures, lands and predominantly limestone soils, all with the ability to endure over the long term. This approach enables Louis Roederer not only to better tackle climate change, and do so whilst acquiring resilience and complexity, but also to guarantee the freshness of its wines and the continuation of the ‘Louis Roederer style’.

THE ART OF BLENDING

Thus freed from any imposed formula, in a single-minded pursuit of the best wine each year, the Maison is placing the art of blending even more at the heart of its approach.

The wines from the previous vintage , were rigorously tasted, plot by plot, before being blended in a complex symphony that enables them to transcribe the quintessence of the Collection vineyards.

THE PERPETUAL RESERVE & OAK-AGED RESERVE WINES

The Perpetual Reserve was created to accentuate the freshness in the wines and balance the ripeness of the harvest. Started with the 2012 vintage, enriched each year with wines from the latest harvest and stored in large capacity stainless steel vats, this Perpetual Reserve brings new tasting sensations, both tactile and gustatory.

These reserve wines are Louis Roederer’s hallmark signature, the very essence of its style. They are aged in oak barrels and make up 10% of the Collection 243 blend. The patina of age adds a lovely softness to the blend and some slightly toasted smoky notes.

COLLECTION 243… A FREE EXPRESSION

Created from the Perpetual Reserve and the oak-aged reserve wines, complemented by the finest successes of the 2018 harvest, Collection 243 is tied to our Champagne roots and the foundations of our Reims-based Champagne House. We therefore give ourselves the freedom to create the blend on the basis of whatever Nature gives us.

This decidedly Epicurean champagne is the Louis Roederer’s multi-vintage champagne par excellence! Collection’s number represents the number of blends created since the birth of the Louis Roederer Champagne House and enables wine lovers to select their wine based on the level of youth or maturity that they desire and appreciate.

VINTAGE

2018 was a warm, continental and truly unique vintage. Summer set many new records in terms of heat, drought and sunshine levels. The Pinot noirs displayed a luxurious texture whilst the Chardonnays were dense and saline where harvested at perfect ripeness and the Meuniers were intensely fruity.

The harvests began on 27 August and ended on 8 September.

Each Collection is a change of gear, a new chapter in the Champagne House ' world of taste. Always unique, yet always decidedly Roederer!

TASTING NOTES

Bright, golden hue with shimmering highlights.

Fine, lively mousse with lingering threads of bubbles.

The bouquet is open and rich yet also wonderfully fresh. It offers an explosion of ripe, delicate fruit with intense notes of yellow fruit (mirabelle plum) from the Pinot noir complemented by sweet citrus fruits (lemon meringue pie) and delicate notes of white flowers (jasmine) from the Chardonnay. The nose opens up to reveal autolytic characters and evolves towards smoky, roasted notes and freshly baked pastries.

The palate is deep and dense with a big, well-structured backbone. The texture is simply mesmerising with its fleshy mouthfeel from the Pinot noir that coats the palate before giving way to an incredible saline freshness with a pleasant hint of bitterness. This wine combines the strength, intensity and power of the delectably ripe Pinot noirs which are balanced to perfection by the chalky  freshness and density from the Chardonnay which forms the majority of the blend.

Collection has all its warmth and generosity thanks to the perfect ripeness of the fruit harvested in the 2018 vintage, yet it is the freshness, energy and complexity of the 'Réserve Perpétuelle' created in 2012, as well as the texture imparted by the oak ageing, that extend and elongate the wines' body resulting in unrivalled finesse and persistence.