Champagne Test

Louis Roederer is one of the leading, remaining independent Champagne Houses, owned by the Rouzaud family since it was founded in 1776. Champagne House is based just south of Reims, France. It is most famous for producing the premium champagne Cristal, which recently became elegant and chic with the likes of footballers and the favoured tipple of hip-hop stars and gangsta rappers. Celebrity wine it may be, but there’s substance behind the style: Cristal is utterly fantastic. In the period 1832 to 1870, under the direction of Louis Roederer, the house gained top ranking worldwide with sales of 2,500,000 bottles, including 390,000 in the United States and 660,000 in Russia where Louis Roederer champagne was an terrific outstanding success. In 1876, Louis Roederer II who had succeeded his father created the Cristal cuvee for Tsar Alexander II. Louis Roederer identified Russia as his special priority, and sales there rapidly grew to as much as 60 per cent of total shipments. Louis Roederer champagnes became renowned at the Imperial Court and among the Russian aristocracy, who had been enthusiastic about French culture and the art of living since the 18th century. Tsar Alexander II, was a champagne connoisseur who made it his personal mission to acquire the very best wines for himself. It did not please him to find that the champagne served at his table was indistinguishable from the champagne served at the homes of his courtiers. On hearing of Tsar Alexander's displeasure, Louis Roederer commissioned a master Flemish glassmaker to design a new and unique crystal glass bottle, so solidly constructed that it could be made with a flat bottom. Thus was born Cristal, the first prestige vintage in the world of Champagne. From that time forward, the wines reserved for the Tsar were delivered in these precious bottles, bearing the imperial coat of arms.

From a vineyard area of 214 hectares (530 acres), Louis Roederer produces two thirds of the grapes needed for its production, sourcing the remaining required fruit from established farming contacts. Part of the secret to this success is that unusually for Champagne houses, Roederer predominantly use grapes from their own vineyards. Their 180 hectares of vineyards make up some 80% of their production.

The Roederer non-vintage cuvées include the extra dry Brut Premier, Grand Vin Sec and the demi-sec Carte Blanche, all Pinot Noir and Chardonnay blended approximately in 2:1 proportion, with a small portion of Pinot Meunier.

The vintage cuvées include the Brut Vintage, Rosé Vintage, with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in an approximately 7:3 proportion, and the 100% Chardonnay Blanc de Blancs. The Rosé is made by red wine addition rather than by saignée method and it has really lovely, intense complex palate with some sweet, warm strawberry fruit and a touch of herbiness. The prestige cuvée Cristal, approximately an equal blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, is also available as a rosé, which contains more Pinot Noir and is also made by addition of red wine. Louis Roderer Cristal is really complex, intense, bright fresh and with absolutely fantastic flavour. Louis Roederer Brut Vintage (1999) has a lovely freshness allied with some fuller flavours: quite a concentrated, intense style with high acidity. Fantastic length with some nutty richness on the finish.

The total annual production of Roederer is approximately 3.2 million bottles, of which 70-80% is Louis Roederer Brut Premier.

The Roederer portfolio also consists of Bordeaux estates Château de Pez and Château Haut Beausejour in Saint Estèphe. In late 2006, the Rouzand family acquired majority share in the second growth estate Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. The deal also covered the Cru Bourgeois estate Château Bernadotte and the South African winery Glenelly. Roederer established a Californian vineyard in 1982. Located in Mendocino County, north of San Francisco, the California Estate produces several sparkling wines using the méthode champenoise.

The Pierre Morlet Champagne style is rich, pleasantly balanced, and gracious. The body is round and elegant with fruity notes of raspberry and wild strawberry, combined with hints of violet, expressing the predominance of the Pinot Noir. The Chardonnay adds structure and finesse as well as zesty lemon flavors with classic notes of William pear and acacia. The chalky subsoil into which the vines plunge their roots, provides the wines with a strong mineral background. The Champagnes exhibit complexity and depth brought by the diversity of the terroirs, the old age of the vines, the vinification, and the barrel ageing in French oak barrels. Finally, the superbly small size and persistence of the bubbles in the glass prove that only the highest quality techniques are applied and that the Champagnes are released only at maturity.

Ten to fourteen thousand cases of Pierre Morlet Champagnes are produced every year to satisfy a loyal clientele of fine wine connoisseurs. Some of these devoted clients belong to families that have been appreciating the Pierre Morlet Champagnes for four generations.

A little bit of history.
The roots of the Morlet family in the Champagne region of France are difficult to retrace exactly. It is certain, though, that the Morlet family has been cultivating vineyards in Avenay-Val-d'Or since the early 1800's. Although the family always made its own wine, the majority of the grape production was sold to the Grandes Maisons of Champagne. At that time, the market for selling grapes was poor. In order to supplement the family's income, Auguste Morlet, an orphan from an impoverished background, worked as a gardener. In addition, he planted, in between his own grape vines, vegetables that he sold each year at the weekly farmers market.

It was one of Auguste's sons, Gaston Morlet, who is truly the founder of Champagne Pierre Morlet. Throughout the ups and downs of nature, wars, famines, and economical hardships, Gaston focused the activities of the family toward viticulture, becoming the family's exclusive occupation. They eventually created their own label, and began making their own wines. Gaston's only child, Pierre, displayed a great enthusiasm and determination for the vineyards and the wines. Seeing his son's passion, Gaston decided to name the Champagnes after him. Indeed, it is Pierre Morlet who created the style of Champagne that the family is known for today. Pierre's objective was to establish high quality vineyards in the center of the Champagne region. Even then, he understood that a variety of terroirs would lead to the highest quality of wines. While the original family vineyard parcels were situated on the hillsides of Avenay-Val-D'Or, Pierre purchased additional vineyard blocks located at even higher elevations known as Mutigny. Aided by his son, Eric Morlet, Pierre undertook the arduous tasks of clearing and leveling the land. Eric Morlet carried out a second phase of purchasing and clearing wooded parcels in the 1980's. These parcels of land were located on the opposite hillside of Mutigny (near Mareuil-sur-Ay) and on the hillsides of Aÿ.

Today, the impressive and harmonious style of Champagnes "Pierre Morlet" is continued by yet another generation. In 1992, Eric's eldest son, Luc Morlet, reinstated his grandfather's use of partially aging the wines in demi-muids barrels. When Luc moved to California to marry his American fiancйe Jodie and to begin his career making wine in the United States, Eric's youngest son, Nicolas Morlet, continued to fine-tune the winemaking techniques, and as a result, the Champagnes won many prestigious awards. The middle son, Paulin Morlet oversees all vineyard and wine operations.

Each generation of the Morlet family has contributed to the development of their winemaking techniques. The family's philosophy is based on authenticity, excellence, and craftsmanship. By simply allowing nature to progress in its way and at its own pace, the Morlets have been embracing a non-interventional or laisser-faire approach. They consider this to be crucial in the full expression of their different terroirs. With each vintage, the Morlets make decisions based upon the characteristics of the growing and ripening seasons. If given the chance to remove a winemaking manipulation, they do not hesitate to do so. New technologies are only applied if they fully preserve the integrity of the quality of the Champagnes. Therefore, the Morlet family always maintains a sense of artistry.

Champagne winemaking, or Champagnization, requires a great deal of winemaking technical knowledge. The Morlets are extremely detail-oriented, intuitive, and precise throughout each step of the process. The grapes are hand picked, hand sorted in the vineyards, and are transported gently in perforated lugs. The fruit is then pressed traditionally (gentle and fractioned pressing) by certified pneumatic presses. The alcoholic fermentation is rather slow, fostering aromatic complexity. This occurs in either small capacity stainless steel tanks (in order to preserve the identity of the different vineyard parcels) or in French oak demi-muids barrels, used almost exclusively by Pierre Morlet Champagne. With a capacity of 600 liters (about 160 gallons), the demi-muids barrels present several great advantages. The proportion of oak surface to wine is the best for the ageing of the delicate base wines. The breathing of the young wines through the pores of the staves is very moderate, and the extraction of the compounds from the oak is very limited. Furthermore, the proportion of new barrels is minimal, and the toast level is very low. The weekly batonnage enhances the aromatic complexity while increasing the "gras".

Malolactic fermentation is carried out 100% in order to increase aromatic complexity and mouth feel roundness, and to achieve natural microbiological stability. Base wines are clarified by a long cold settling during the winter. After the usual spring bottling, the bottles are then placed in the Morlet's underground caves. The bottles are on their lees horizontally for two years and then vertically for one to three years. The riddling process is gently carried out using gravity, by turning the bottles by one eighth and simultaneously tilting them. The bottles are disgorged three months prior to shipping. The Pierre Morlet Champagnes are released upon maturity. The Grande Rйserve is released a minimum of four years after harvest, and the Millésime is released five to eight years after harvest.

After four generations, Champagne Pierre Morlet et Fils has become synonymous in France for authentic and handcrafted Champagnes. Now, wine connoisseurs around the world are discovering the unique harmony of Pierre Morlet Champagne.

Champagne is a sparkling wine produced by inducing the in-bottle secondary fermentation of wine to effect carbonation. It is produced exclusively within the Champagne region of France, from which it takes its name. While the term "champagne" is used by some makers of sparkling wine in other parts of the world, numerous countries limit the use of the term to only those wines that come from the Champagne appellation. In Europe, this principle is enshrined in the European Union by Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status. Other countries, such as the United States, have recognized the exclusive nature of this name, yet maintain a legal structure that allows longtime domestic producers of sparkling wine to continue to use the term "Champagne" under specific circumstances.

Moët & Chandon is one of the world's largest manufacturers of champagne and one of the best known champagne houses in the world. Founded in 1743, the house now owns over 1,500 acres (6 km2) of vineyards and annually produces over 2,000,000 cases of champagne. In 1962 it became the first champagne house to be listed on the French stockmarket.
Various pronunciations of Moët exist, including 'Mo-way', 'Mow-ee' and 'Mow-ett'. However, according to Moët-Hennessy USA, the correct pronunciation is "mow-ETT".

History.
The company dates to 1743 when Claude Moët began shipping wines from the Champagne region of France to Paris. The reign of Louis XV coincided with an increased demand for sparkling wine. Moët expanded rapidly and by the end of the eighteenth century was exporting the drink all over Europe and to the United States. Claude's grandson Jean-Remy Moët took the house to international prominence catering to such elite clientele as Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon Bonaparte. Chandon was added to the company name when Jean-Remy Moët turned over half the company to his son-in-law Pierre-Gabriel Chandon de Briailles in 1832, and half to his son Victor Moët.

Following the introduction of the concept of a vintage champagne in 1840, Moët marketed its first vintage in 1842. Their best-selling brand, Brut Imperial was introduced in the 1860s. Their best known label, Dom Perignon, is named for the Benedictine monk remembered in legend as the "Father of Champagne". Moët & Chandon merged with Hennessy Cognac in 1971 and with Louis Vuitton in 1987 to become LVMH (Louis-Vuitton-Moët-Hennessy), the largest luxury group in the world, netting over 16 billion euros in fiscal 2004. Moët & Chandon holds a Royal Warrant as supplier of champagne to Queen Elizabeth II.

In 2006, Moët et Chandon Brut Imperial issued an extremely limited bottling of its champagne named "Be Fabulous", a special release of its original bottle with decorative Swarovski crystals, marking the elegance of Moët et Chandon.

Domaine Chandon.
In 1973, the then Moët-Hennessy company founded Domaine Chandon, an outpost winery in the Los Carnaros region of Napa Valley. It was the first French-owned sparkling wine venture in the United States. The restaurant "Etoile" is situated at the winery. Domaine Chandon in Australia was established in 1986 at Green Point, Victoria.