| Winery Location: | Reims |
| Year Established: | 1776 |
Vineyard Holdings
214 ha
(which provides for two-thirds of the estates grape requirements). All of the vineyards are in either Grand Cru or Premier Cru villages. They have holdings in Verzenay, Verzy, and Beaumont-sur-Vesle in the Montagne de Reims. In the Vallée de Marne they have holdings in Marieul, Aÿ, Dizy, Champillon, Cumières, and Damery. In the Côte de Blancs they have holdings in Chouilly, Oiry, Cramant, Avize, Oger, Vertus, and Le-Mesnil-sur-Oger.
Top Wines Produced
- Cristal
- Cristal, Rosé
- Blanc de Blancs, Vintage Brut
- Vintage Brut
- Brut Premier
Inaugural Vintages
- 1876 was the first vintage for Cristal, but it was not commercially available until 1945
- The first vintage of Cristal Rosé was 1974.
Average Total Production
- 3,120,000 bottles
Summary
Original name of the estate was Dubois Père et Fils. It was named after Louis Roederer in 1833 after he inherited the estate from his uncle. Roederer expanded the business, particularly into the Russian market, and by the 1870s Roederer made up for one-tenth of Champagne’s total production. Louis’s son, Louis, invented Cristal, which was made exclusivley for Tsar Alexander II; the wine was packaged in a clear crystal bottle. The success of the firm quickly fell apart with the Revolution of 1917 in Russia, and the consequent villainization of all things associated with the Royal family. As the firm went into the Depression it was kept alive by the widow Camille Olry-Roederer who went without a salary in an effort to keep the firm afloat. She made important purchases for the estate, with great vineyards in the Montagne de Reims and the Côte de Blancs. The firm expanded once again under her 40 years of leadership. The estate was run by her grandson Jean-Claude Rouzaud, who also expanded the property, and is now run by his son Frédéric Rouzaud. The Roederer firm owns many wineries, including Champagne Deutz, Roederer Estate and Scharffenberger, Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Chateau de Pez, Domaine Ott in Provence and Ramos Pinto in the Douro Valley. The wines are made by Chef de Cave Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon.
Style & Vinification Techniques
All of the grapes are manually-harvested and brought to one of the firm’s three different pressing houses. The firm has worked towards more environmentally friendly vineyard work, and has stopped using herbicides. The musts are shipped to the winery in Reims, where they ferment by individual lots with ambient yeasts. After the secondary fermentation the wines spend three years on their lees. After dosage, and corking, the wine spends another six months at the winery before release. Cristal is a blend of approximately 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, depending on the vintage. Between 15 and 25 % of the base wine for Cristal ages in oak, the oak barrels at Roederer are 6,000 liter fudre. The grapes for Cristal come from eight villages, seven of which are Grand Cru. The Rosé is also approximately 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, and the Pinot Noir goes through the saignée process to get its color, and is blended with the Chardonnay. Both Cristal wines spend between five and six years in the cellar with and an extra eight months after dosage and corking. Roederer avoids malolactic fermentation for all wines.
Producer Website: Louis Roederer