Louis Roederer - Hommage A Camille Coteaux Champenois Mareuil-sur-Ay 2018 (750ml)

 
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Price: $225.00

Sale Price: $195.00

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Producer Louis Roederer
Country France
Region Champagne
Varietal Pinot Noir
Vintage 2018
Sku 2992
Size 750ml

James Suckling: 94 Points

“A beautiful red with strawberry smoke and light chocolate character. Real red. Medium body firm tannins and a creamy finish. Shows plenty of subtle character at the end. New still wine from Champagne Louis Roederer. Drink now.”

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Wine Advocate: 91 Points

The 2018 Coteaux Champenois Mareuil-sur-Aÿ Hommage à Camille derives from a 0.43-hectare parcel in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ lieu-dit Charmont that was planted with Burgundian Pinot Noir selections in 2002 and farmed with the intention of producing a still wine. Offering up aromas of raspberries and wild strawberry preserves mingled with hints of petals and sweet spices it's medium-bodied elegantly fleshy and precise with a bright spine of acid delicately chalky tannins and a penetrating perfumed finish. Fine-boned and elegant with the expressive fruit typical of the vintage it's a promising debut for Roederer. This small report covers four recent releases from Louis Roederer: the superb 2013 Cristal and Cristal Rosé and the house's two promising debut offerings in the genre of Coteaux Champenois. The Cristal releases speak for themselves and I refer readers looking for more context to my feature on this important cuvée in the March 2020 Week 1 issue of "The Wine Advocate." Representing more of a novelty however the Coteaux are worthy of special comment. The Coteaux project began two decades ago when chef des caves Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon commissioned an analysis of the house's vineyard holdings looking for sites with sufficient clay content to produce still wine. In 2002 Roederer planted in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ lieu-dit Charmont with Burgundian selections (their in-house sélection massale program not yet being sufficiently advanced to supply their needs) farming the vineyard with higher canopies and without hedging pruning short to limit yields. Their first essay in vinification came in 2014 and more seriously in 2015 Lecaillon refining choices relating to the proportion of stems retained and élevage. This 2018 red in other words is the culmination of a long journey. Its white counterpart by contrast is the result of a coup de foudre: Lecaillon tasted a 1961 Coteaux from Mesnil-sur-Oger and he tells me adored it. Having initially earmarked Avize as the most plausible source for such a wine he immediately changed his focus and the result is the 2018 reviewed here. Both are fine-boned precise and charming wines without any Burgundian pretentious but rather authentically Champenois personalities; and both bear the "Hommage à Camille" label in honor of the house's grande dame Camille Olry Roederer who regularly served Coteaux Champenois to her guests.