I had the chance to do a wine tasting at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan centering on Champagne.  Champagne is that mysterious sparkling wine that gets bundled with all of its distant relatives.  To be Champagne, the wine must come from the designated district of Champagne, otherwise in France the wines are either called Cremant or a Sparkling wine.  The name is now protected world-wide, though there are a few wineries in the United States that have been grandfathered in as “American Champagne.”  Five wines were offered at the tasting and all were from the Reims based house of Louis Roederer.  Although founded in 1776, it was in 1833, when Louis Roederer took over the company from his uncle and renamed the house after himself.  

We began the tasting with Louis Roederer Champagne Collection 243 NV.  Collection 243 is based on the year 2018 and the fruit is harvested from three of their estate vineyards, as well as from some of their contract grower estates.  It is a blend of forty-two percent Chardonnay, forty percent Pinot Noir and eighteen percent Meunier.  This juice is also blended with their “Reserve Perpetuelle” created in 2012.  This collection is fifty-nine percent of 2018 vintage, and thirty-one percent Perpetual Reserve of 2012,13,14,15,16,17, and ten percent Reserve wines aged in oak from the same years.  A pretty golden color with shimmering highlights from the constant flow of tiny bubble.  The wine offered notes of yellow fruits, citrus, white florals, and baked pastries.  The palate produced tones of plums, lemons, and jasmine in a taut structure with a refreshing salinity and a nice finish of tart fruit and limestone terroir.  

We then went with Louis Roederer Champagne Brut Vintage 2015; which is also the year that the Champagne region was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It was a year of some record breaking hot and sunny days, and followed by a second half of August which brought some welcome rain and created juicy and concentrated grapes.  The fruit came from two Crus: Verzy and Chouilly; and from their “La Montagne” estate vineyard.  The wine is a blend of seventy percent Pinot Noir and thirty percent Chardonnay, with thirty percent of the wine aged in oak.  A yellow wine with golden tints and lively bubbles, this wine offered notes of currants, plums, peaches and a dash of pepper and spices.  On the palate tones of concentrated red and yellow fruits, with some cocoa, big acidity, some salinity and a finish of fruit and terroir.

We then had a chance to compare it to the Louis Roederer Champagne Brut Rosé 2015.  Champagne Rosé is the appellation for Champagne tinted pink by the dark pigment contained in the skins of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes.  An extraordinary vintage for Champagne and the fruit for this wine comes from two Crus: Cumieres and Chouilly and from their La Riviere estate vineyards.  The wine is sixty-two percent Pinot Noir and thirty-eight percent Chardonnay with eleven percent of the wine aged in oak.  The rosé was created by a long, gentle infusion of Pinot Noir, and adding some Chardonnay juices to the Pinot Noir during maceration, to ferment together for the perfect integration of the two grapes.  The salmon-colored wine with fine energetic bubbles offered notes of currants, blood orange and a touch of cocoa.  On the palate the tones of blood orange were prominent, with florals blending with saline for a tangy and ending with a finish of fruit and terroir.