Champagne Louis Roederer Collection 244 NV (Half Bottle)

Description

Awarded the highest score in the ‘Classics Category’ in Decanter’s Wines of the Year 2023 . ‘It’s a real benchmark for the category – what more could you want?" said the judges.

Founded in 1776, and property of the same family since 1819, Champagne Louis Roederer is today one of the last major Champagne houses to be an independent family affair. The annual production of its wines (Collection, Carte Blanche, Brut Vintage, Rosé Vintage, Blanc de Blancs, Cristal, Cristal Rosé) represents just over three million bottles, distributed to 100 countries worldwide. Champagne Louis Roederer owns just over 240 hectares of vineyard located in the Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne and Côte des Blancs. Each vineyard is situated in the finest site, of which 90% are Grand Cru and Premier Cru classified. The house uses 100% of its own grapes for vintage styles, and 60% for the Collection blend. Such a high proportion of estate-grown grapes is unusual in Champagne, ensuring superior quality at all stages from grape to glass. 5% of the wines are matured in oak casks with weekly batonnage. 10% of the reserve wines are matured in casks with partial malolactic fermentation.

This 244th blend from the Louis Roederer Champagne House is based on the finest successes of the 2019 harvest, a year of record-breaking temperatures brought by particularly intense heat waves. Dry and continental and of magnificent maturity, this year gives wines that were dense and fresh, with a masterful balance, conducive to bringing out the powerful and luscious Collection character in the blend. All the wines from this harvest were rigorously tasted, plot by plot, before being blended in a complex symphony recreating the perfect picture of the vintage., a truly magical year, combined with the freshness and complexity of a "Perpetual Reserve" created in 2012 and a judicious selection of reserve wines aged in large French oak vats (foudres), it remains true to the classic Louis Roederer style while expressing its singularity and exceptional personality created by the unique alchemy of this blend, which is reinvented each year.

Collection 244 is made up of 54% of the 2019 harvest and is an ode to taste and drinking pleasure. Each year, the Cellar Master composes a new symphony, inspired by the tonalities of the year and then adds the wines from the Perpetual Reserve and the oak-aged reserve wines. The Perpetual Reserve makes up a significant proportion of the Collection blend and provides its balance and freshness. In Collection 244, it represents 36% of the blend. In parallel to this Perpetual Reserve, 10% of wines from previous years and young plots on the Cristal estate, aged in French oak foudres, are added to the blend.

Aged for almost 4 years in our cellars, Collection 244 is a wine that has reached great plenitude, borne by the maturity of the year, the freshness of the Perpetual Reserve and the complexity of the oak-aged reserve wines. It is a wonderfully well-balanced champagne with an incredibly luscious power, marking the return of the Meunier grape variety, which adds a fruity, caressing softness to the more structured, saline Pinots noirs and Chardonnays.

“Based on the 2019 vintage, Roederer's NV Brut Collection 244 is the finest release of the house's reimagined non-vintage Brut to date. Offering up aromas of pear, peach and nectarine mingled with notions of white flowers, beeswax, freshly baked bread and buttery pastry, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and fleshy, with a pretty pinpoint mousse, racy acids and a long, chalky finish. The quality of the base vintage really shines through.” 93+ Points, William Kelley, Robert Parkers Wine Advocate

“The NV Collection 244 is gorgeous. Bright and focused, with a lovely cut, the 244 is immediately captivating. Dried pear, chamomile, herbs, mint and crushed rocks abound. Based on the 2019 vintage with 36% perpetual reserve wines from vintages 2012-2018, this vibrant, wonderfully crystalline Champagne impresses from beginning to end. Saline notes extend the finish effortlessly. Dosage is 7 grams per liter.” 93 Points, Antonio Galloni, Vinous