94 points, “Dried-lemon, apricot, green-apple, salted-almond, walnut and light caramel notes. Vinous and layered, with small and tight bubbles. Excellent focus and intensity.” – James Suckling
93 points, “The NV Champagne Collection 243 Brut is the third release and is based on the 2018 vintage, with the addition of 30% of the perpetual reserve started in 2012 and 10% reserve wine that has been aged in oak. It is ripe and balanced, with yellow flowers, honeycomb, and plum, and it has elegant concentration and underlying tension, precise mousse, and rich salinity, with lingering notes of croissant and delicate smoke. This will be an exciting wine in the range to follow.” – Jeb Dunnuck
92 points, “Roederer’s newly released NV Brut Collection 243 is a pillowy, enveloping Champagne evocative of crisp stone fruits, honeycomb, white flowers and buttery pastry.” – Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
As if that critical acclaim wasn’t enough, Louis Roederer has created this stunning gift box containing a bottle of the Collection 243 Champagne and a pair of perfectly designed Lehmann Jamesse Prestige flutes from which to drink it.
The Collection series has opened a new chapter in Champagne’s illustrious history, and you can expect the other major houses to follow suit shortly. Responding to climate change, Louis Roederer has ceased production of its best-selling Brut Premier NV, replacing it with this new multi-vintage cuvée. When Brut Premier NV was first released in 1986, Louis Roederer was pressing for larger yields in a much cooler climate, when it was much harder to ripen grapes. Now that the globe is warming and there’s a shift towards more sustainable farming, they are “chasing freshness” and “the future will be organic and biodynamic”, according to Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, Cellar Master and Executive Vice President at Louis Roederer. So, gone is the tight, focused and nervy Brut Premier NV, replaced by a more expressive, more complex and more spicy modern style.
Following in the footsteps of Jacquesson’s 700 series and Krug’s Grand Cuvée, Louis Roederer releases Collection 243. The number refers to the youngest vintage in the blend, 2018, which was Roederer’s 243rd harvest. It was a warm and unique vintage that yielded luxurious and intensely fruity wines. The major winemaking differences between this and the old Brut Premier NV are three-fold. Firstly, Louis Roederer has increased the proportion of oak-aged reserve wines. These come from young plots on the Cristal estate and the large French oak vats add more spice to the wine, rather like seasoning a dish. Secondly, the house established a Perpetual Reserve – an approach also employed by respected Grower Champagne houses, like Bérêche & Fils and Jacques Selosse. The Perpetual Reserve is a vast stainless-steel tank containing reductively aged (oxygen-free) older vintages that is continually topped up in the same way that Sherry producers use their solera system. Most producers will keep vintages separately in smaller tanks, where they lose freshness. This approach maintains the freshness, adding a chalky and saline character. And finally, the dosage (the sweetness added at the end to balance the wine) has been reduced, as the ripeness is already present.
Collection 243 was crafted using 10% oak-aged reserve wines (from 2012-2017), 31% Perpetual Reserve, and 59% of the finest grapes harvested in 2018. Fined with pea protein, the final bottling is vegan friendly (although you may want to consider some of the requirements of biodynamic farming). The result is a deep and dense wine with a gorgeously silky texture. Expect baked apple, jasmine, bread dough, lemon meringue pie, mirabelle plum, apricot and pear, followed by almond croissant, festive gingerbread, grapefruit sorbet, honeycomb, blossom and a pinch of sea salt. If this is the future of Louis Roederer, we absolutely love it.
Founded in 1776 and famed for being the producers of Cristal, Louis Roederer is one of the last major Champagne houses to still be independently family-run. It falls under the stewardship of the Rouzauds – one of the wine world’s most powerful families and owners of Domaines Ott, Champagne Deutz, Ramos Pinto Port, Merry Edwards and Diamond Creek in the USA, Maison Delas in the Rhône and Bordeaux’s iconic Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande.
SKU No.: 4081696
Style No.: 943624
Region: Champagne
Grapes: Chardonnay,Pinot Meunier,Pinot Noir
Closure: Cork
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 12%
Volume: 750ml
Allergens: Sulphites
94 points, “Dried-lemon, apricot, green-apple, salted-almond, walnut and light caramel notes. Vinous and layered, with small and tight bubbles. Excellent focus and intensity.” – James Suckling
93 points, “The NV Champagne Collection 243 Brut is the third release and is based on the 2018 vintage, with the addition of 30% of the perpetual reserve started in 2012 and 10% reserve wine that has been aged in oak. It is ripe and balanced, with yellow flowers, honeycomb, and plum, and it has elegant concentration and underlying tension, precise mousse, and rich salinity, with lingering notes of croissant and delicate smoke. This will be an exciting wine in the range to follow.” – Jeb Dunnuck
92 points, “Roederer’s newly released NV Brut Collection 243 is a pillowy, enveloping Champagne evocative of crisp stone fruits, honeycomb, white flowers and buttery pastry.” – Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
As if that critical acclaim wasn’t enough, Louis Roederer has created this stunning gift box containing a bottle of the Collection 243 Champagne and a pair of perfectly designed Lehmann Jamesse Prestige flutes from which to drink it.
The Collection series has opened a new chapter in Champagne’s illustrious history, and you can expect the other major houses to follow suit shortly. Responding to climate change, Louis Roederer has ceased production of its best-selling Brut Premier NV, replacing it with this new multi-vintage cuvée. When Brut Premier NV was first released in 1986, Louis Roederer was pressing for larger yields in a much cooler climate, when it was much harder to ripen grapes. Now that the globe is warming and there’s a shift towards more sustainable farming, they are “chasing freshness” and “the future will be organic and biodynamic”, according to Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, Cellar Master and Executive Vice President at Louis Roederer. So, gone is the tight, focused and nervy Brut Premier NV, replaced by a more expressive, more complex and more spicy modern style.
Following in the footsteps of Jacquesson’s 700 series and Krug’s Grand Cuvée, Louis Roederer releases Collection 243. The number refers to the youngest vintage in the blend, 2018, which was Roederer’s 243rd harvest. It was a warm and unique vintage that yielded luxurious and intensely fruity wines. The major winemaking differences between this and the old Brut Premier NV are three-fold. Firstly, Louis Roederer has increased the proportion of oak-aged reserve wines. These come from young plots on the Cristal estate and the large French oak vats add more spice to the wine, rather like seasoning a dish. Secondly, the house established a Perpetual Reserve – an approach also employed by respected Grower Champagne houses, like Bérêche & Fils and Jacques Selosse. The Perpetual Reserve is a vast stainless-steel tank containing reductively aged (oxygen-free) older vintages that is continually topped up in the same way that Sherry producers use their solera system. Most producers will keep vintages separately in smaller tanks, where they lose freshness. This approach maintains the freshness, adding a chalky and saline character. And finally, the dosage (the sweetness added at the end to balance the wine) has been reduced, as the ripeness is already present.
Collection 243 was crafted using 10% oak-aged reserve wines (from 2012-2017), 31% Perpetual Reserve, and 59% of the finest grapes harvested in 2018. Fined with pea protein, the final bottling is vegan friendly (although you may want to consider some of the requirements of biodynamic farming). The result is a deep and dense wine with a gorgeously silky texture. Expect baked apple, jasmine, bread dough, lemon meringue pie, mirabelle plum, apricot and pear, followed by almond croissant, festive gingerbread, grapefruit sorbet, honeycomb, blossom and a pinch of sea salt. If this is the future of Louis Roederer, we absolutely love it.
Founded in 1776 and famed for being the producers of Cristal, Louis Roederer is one of the last major Champagne houses to still be independently family-run. It falls under the stewardship of the Rouzauds – one of the wine world’s most powerful families and owners of Domaines Ott, Champagne Deutz, Ramos Pinto Port, Merry Edwards and Diamond Creek in the USA, Maison Delas in the Rhône and Bordeaux’s iconic Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande.
SKU No.: 4081696
Style No.: 943624