Consider: Louis Roederer Champagne
The Champagne of Champagnes
Welcome back dear readers!
You’re probably thinking…
“Jared and Kevin must just sit back and look around the room to come up with the topics for this newsletter”.
And that would be a fair point.
We have indeed launched this humble newsletter into the world by exploring objects that we are intimately familiar with and enjoy. However, we also hope to explore classic objects that we (and you!) have always wondered about, but never previously dug into. This week I’m putting my wallet and taste buds on the line to explore something outside of my everyday.
Recently when I was thinking about planning food and drink for my living room New Year’s Eve party (party of 2), it hit me. What’s the deal with Champagne? And given what a dud 2020 has been, wouldn’t it be great to celebrate the start of 2021 with a really, really, special Champagne? Like what would be The Champagne of Champagnes?
Not content with only searching for the highest review score at the best price, I was thirsty to discover one that was considered in its design, innovation, sustainability, and value. 🍾
Prelude
I find wine so interesting because it can be simple to enjoy, yet so complex to understand. So before we dig in, let’s set the table.
Winemaking 101 teaches us that yeast ferments (“eats”) the sugars in the juice from grapes and converts it to ethanol (alcohol) and carbon dioxide (C02, bubbles). This fermentation process generally happens in large vented vessels and the resulting C02 is released into the air, leaving still alcoholic grape juice…wine. The fermentation process stops when the sugars in the grape juice are depleted, or when mother nature or the winemaker intervenes (by lowering the temperature, using additives, or removing the yeasts).
What separates most sparkling wines, like Champagne, from still wine, is that after a first ferment, the wine is bottled and a second ferment happens in the bottle. The C02 from this second round gets trapped, giving the wine carbonation. Curious to know what separates “Champage” from “sparkling wine” and why we celebrate with it? Jump to the footnote at the end.
Design
My experience of digging into the history of Champagne was similar to my experience drinking it: exciting and head spinning. And I highly recommend it.
If you’re looking for a thorough but brief introduction to Champagne, it’s hard to beat this great article by wine royalty, Jancis Robinson. But for now, let’s join this saga in the 18th century when the prominent Champagne houses like Ruinart (1729), Taittinger (1734), Moët & Chandon (1743) and Veuve Clicquot (1772) were formed.
Founded in 1776 and then renamed in his own namesake by Louis Roederer in 1833, the Louis Roederer Champagne house has over the years separated itself from its peers, by focusing on owning its own vineyards, instead of purchasing the majority of its grapes from independent growers, as most large Champagne houses do. Today, ~90% of all the grapes grown in the Champagne region are grown by small independent farmers and sold to the Champagne makers to work their magic in the cellar. In contrast, Louis Roederer’s premier bottles contain 100% owned vineyard grapes and even its standard annual non-vintage (no defined year) releases are crafted with ~70% of its own grapes.
This control over, and knowledge of, which individual land parcels yielded the finest quality grapes, allowed Louis Roederer to fulfill the request made by a loyal and royal customer in 1876 for a custom creation. The Russian Tsar, Alexander II wanted a unique Champagne, crafted from the highest quality grapes and asked for it to be bottled in specially made clear glass (so he could see its colour and know if it contained poison! ☠️) with a flat base (so no one could hide explosives in a typical curved bottom! 💣 ). What a time to be alive! This was the birth of the legendary Cristal Champagne, which after being released commercially in 1945, has remained one of the most prized of all bubbly.
Innovation
The story of Champagne is really a story of innovation. From mastering the creation of bubbles, to blending multiple grape vintages together for a more consistent product, and finally the development of stronger glass and cork cages to withstand the pressures of carbonation, it has been a wild ride of adaptation and invention. But don’t be fooled by the tradition and rules that govern Champagne today. Innovation continues in the fields and cellars. You just have to search it out.
In the 1990s, the house of Louis Roederer engaged in an exercise of foresight and asked itself, what might the future of the industry look like 30 years from now? The future they envisioned was a world where Champagne drinkers had an increased preference for wines that reflected a certain place (terroir) and a world where the impacts of climate change put growing conditions at risk. With this in mind, they pursued a strategy that in many ways was about turning back the clock and embracing more natural practices in the fields: organic and biodynamic farming. This meant employing a series of practices to promote healthy soils, including avoiding chemical pesticides and fertilizers.
At its core was the idea to increase the depth at which the root stock of the vines would go into the chalky soil and bedrock, with the intent to make them more resistant to drought and amplify the “taste from the vineyard”. Controlling their own land made this experimentation and shift possible, as they did not have to rely on convincing a network of independent growers to take on risk and change their ways.
Sustainability
Historically, the Champagne region has had a reputation of being one of the heaviest users of chemical pesticides and fertilizers in France. And only ~2-3% of overall vineyard acres in Champagne and France are organic or biodynamic vs the global average of ~4-5%. But after seven generations of family ownership, Louis Roederer remains committed to their long-term viability and the sustainable production of quality Champagne at scale. While they were not the first organic or biodynamic grape grower in the recent era, they are now the largest in the region with all of their ~600 acres managed either under organic or biodynamic practices. 2019 was a landmark year as they released their 2012 Cristal vintage, the first Cristal to be made with 100% biodynamically grown grapes.
If you’re curious about the practices and potential impacts of biodynamic farming check out the stunning and entertaining 2019 film, Biggest Little Farm.
Value
I won’t try to justify the price of Champagne, but I will try to explain it! Based on the ~1.3kg of grapes needed to make each bottle and recent years contract prices of grapes in Champagne, there’s ~$13 worth of grape juice in a standard bottle. If you consider natural and biodynamic farming practices are more labour intensive, and can reduce yields by 20-30%, you can see how this would increase the input costs even more. Of course this still excludes the work in the cellar, the time it takes to mature, as well as the packaging and logistics to get it to your local store… oh, and of course taxes.
Champagne can be found at a variety of price levels. At my local alcohol retailer, 750ml bottles of non-vintage Champagne start around $40, and well known brands such as Veuve Clicquot and Moët & Chandon are priced at around $75.
Surprisingly, I found Louis Roederer non-vintage Brut Premier Champagne on sale for $72 per bottle. If you’re feeling flush, the recent release of 2012 Cristal can be had for ~$300/bottle. Alternatively, if you’re looking for just a taste without breaking the bank, 375ml half bottles are sometimes available.
If you’re in Ontario like me, and you’d like a more local alternative to pop this New Year’s Eve, you could opt for a sparkling wine from Prince Edward County’s Hinterland Wine Company (made using the “Traditional” method, like Champagne) and available for ~$40. Or you could try a certified organic sparkling wine from Niagara’s Tawse Winery, available for under $20.
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Well, this is all for me this year. You’ll hear from Jared next weekend on how a ladder maker pivoted to make the world’s sturdiest coffee brewer 🤔. And you’ll hear from me again the first Saturday in 2021, when I’ll be sure to report back on the results of my New Year’s Eve tasting research. Cheers! 🥂
Thanks for making it all the way to the end! Please enjoy this enlightening video on how to “properly pronounce” the names of the great Champagne houses. And as always, if you’ve enjoyed reading along please share and/or subscribe!
Footnote / Digestif
What separates “Champagne” from “champagne” or other sparkling wines?
Unlike Prosecco (Italian) or Cava (Spanish), Champagne is a European Union legal designation applied to wine made under a specific set of rules. These include vineyard and cellar practices, as well the requirements that it must:
Be made from grapes grown in the Champagne region of France;
Only use one or a combination of certain grape varietals (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Arbane and Petit Meslier);
Be aged for at least 15 months for non-vintage (year declared) releases, and three years for vintage specific releases.
The ultimate goal of these rules is to ensure a consistent and high quality product, but it also means a higher cost of production and a limited supply. A perfect recipe for the creation of a luxury good.
Wondering why we celebrate with Champagne?
Although originally carbonation in wine was thought to be a fault, in time winemakers learned to harness it, and ultimately embrace, to create the sparkling wine category. And as Champagne became more refined in its production, nobility from France to Russia found it novel and covetted it. Champagne’s reputation and association with celebration was also aided by the fact that 29 French Kings were crowned over centuries at the cathedral in Reims (a major town in the Champagne region). At these regal events, a lot of locally available wine flowed freely - including the local bubbly - during these week-long coronation gatherings, cementing Champagne as a symbol of celebration and status.