Champagne Louis Roederer Cristal 2014

The company we know as Louis Roederer was founded in 1776 as Dubois Père & Fils. In 1833 Louis Roederer inherited the company from his uncle and changed the name. Crucial to the early success of Roederer was its targeting of foreign markets. The Russians in particular became enthusiasts of Roederer Champagne, so much so that in 1876 a special sweet cuvée was created at the request of Tsar Alexander II. Bottled in clear crystal, rather than ordinary glass, it was appropriately named Cristal. After the Russian Revolution, a new blend of Cristal was made commercially available and remains the original prestige cuvée for which Louis Roederer is perhaps best known today.

The grapes for the whole range of Roederer champagnes are sourced, for the most part, from their own vineyards. By far the biggest selling is the non-vintage, extra dry, Brut Premier which is full-bodied and distinctive. The non-vintage wines tend to be a blend of roughly two parts pinot noir and one part chardonnay with just a dash of pinot meunier.

The Roederer stable also holds important wine estates in other regions, including a majority share in second growth estate, Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande in Pauillac. In 1988 Louis Roederer also launched their first sparkling wine from their Californian estate in the Anderson Valley north of San Francisco. The cool climate there had been identified as an excellent precursor to the production of grapes suitable for high-quality sparkling wine and Roederer bought more than 500 acres of land to do just that. The wine is made in the same way as their Champagne, using chardonnay and pinot noir and blending from an ever expanding selection of reserve wines.