Roederer Estate Brut
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#27 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2018
Roederer Estate Brut, the first California sparkling wine produced by Champagne Louis Roederer, builds upon a 200-year tradition of fine winemaking that has made Roederer champagne among the most sought-after in the world.
Roederer's winemaking style is based on two elements: ownership of its own vineyards and the addition of oak-aged reserve wines to each year's blend or cuvee. All the grapes for the Anderson Valley wines are grown on the Estate.
Each year, the winemaker selects a portion of the best wines for aging in Center of France oak casks. Aged from one to three years, wines from this reserve cellar are added to the blend, creating a multi-vintage cuvee in the traditional Roederer style, known for its body, finesse and depth of flavor.
The Roederer Estate Brut debuted in October 1988, and has since established its reputation as one of California's premier sparklers, remaining true to the heritage of excellence and style of its French forebears.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Always a solid wine from Anderson Valley, this NV is built of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir and offers pretty lemony and lemon oil notes atop a bed of fragrant white flowers. Very round and complete with an assertive mousse, just-baked bread, and bruised yellow apple fruit. This bubbly has excellent depth and a terrific mineral finish. Aged a minimum of two years on the yeast, clocking in at 10 g/L. 85,000 9-litre cases produced.
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Wine Enthusiast
An enticing, toasty, nutty aroma leads to crisp and complex flavors in this medium-bodied wine that is braced by good acidity and a fine bead of bubbles. Subtle, mature notes complement the elegant texture.
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James Suckling
Aromas of pie crust with hints of nuts and cooked apple. Some butter cookie. Medium to full body with notes of seashell, cooked apple and lemon rind. Chunky at the end. A base of 2019. A blend of 60% chardonnay and 40% pinot noir. Two years on the lees.
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Wine Spectator
Precise and pristine in structure, with alluring apple and strawberry flavors that are accented by baked bread and fresh ginger tones as this glides on the vibrant finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The NV Estate Brut is scented of sour lemon, almonds and biscuits with flinty touches. The medium-bodied palate is rounded and creamy with bright, lemony character and a long, mineral-driven finish.
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Wine & Spirits
A purely California sparkler with rich flavors of Rainier cherries, ripe apricots and peaches, all held in a savory structure. It’s markedly clean, with clarity to the cherry-skin flavor that lasts.
Founded in 1982, Roederer Estate is nestled in Mendocino County’s fog-shrouded, Anderson Valley. As the California property of Champagne Louis Roederer, Roederer Estate builds upon a centuries-old tradition of fine winemaking. Roederer's unique winemaking style is based on two elements: complete ownership of its vineyards and the addition of oak-aged reserve wines to each year's blend or cuvee to create complex, dry and harmonious sparkling wines.
The crisp, fresh and rich flavors of Roederer Estate sparkling wines reflect the cool Anderson Valley that is home to their family-owned estate's 600 acres of vineyards. This protected valley in Northern California provides the ideal ripening conditions for their 100% estate-grown Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. The blending team is comprised of the winemakers from the California property as well as from Champagne Louis Roederer, ensuring that Roederer Estate remains the most French of the California sparklers.
A term typically reserved for Champagne and Sparkling Wines, non-vintage or simply “NV” on a label indicates a blend of finished wines from different vintages (years of harvest). To make non-vintage Champagne, typically the current year’s harvest (in other words, the current vintage) forms the base of the blend. Finished wines from previous years, called “vins de reserve” are blended in at approximately 10-50% of the total volume in order to achieve the flavor, complexity, body and acidity for the desired house style. A tiny proportion of Champagnes are made from a single vintage.
There are also some very large production still wines that may not claim one particular vintage. This would be at the discretion of the winemaker’s goals for character of the final wine.
Surrounded by redwood forests and often blanketed in chilly, ocean fog, the Anderson Valley is one of California’s most picturesque appellations. During the growing season, moist, cool, late afternoon air flows in from the Pacific Ocean along the Navarro River and over the valley's golden, oak-studded hills. High and low temperatures can vary as much as 40 or 50 degrees within a single day, allowing for slow and gentle ripening of grapes, which will in turn create elegantly balanced wines.
The Anderson Valley is best known for Pinot Noir made in a range of styles from delicate and floral to powerful and concentrated. Chardonnay also shines here, and both varieties are often utilized for the production of some of California’s best traditional method sparkling wines. The region also draws inspiration from Alsace and produces excellent Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris.