Louis Roederer is a producer of champagne based in Reims

Reims

Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. Founded in 1776, it was inherited and renamed by Louis Roederer in 1833, and is noted as the producer of the luxury champagne Cristal.

History

Initially founded as Dubois Père & Fils in 1776, Louis Roederer inherited the company from his uncle in 1833, renamed it eponymously, and set out to target markets abroad. With concentrated efforts in several countries, including Russia. Tsar Nicholas II nominated Louis Roederer as the official wine supplier to the Imperial Court of Russia

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

, though the Russian Revolution

Russian Revolution of 1917

The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...

 and the U.S. Prohibition

Prohibition in the United States

Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...

 caused financial difficulties during the early 20th century, Roederer was re-established as a leading Grandes Marques producer and remains in descendants Rouzaud ownership. Cristal is a precursor prestige cuvée brand and was made commercially available in 1945.

Production

From a vineyard

Vineyard

A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...

 area of 214 hectares (528.8 acre), Louis Roederer produces two thirds of the grapes needed for its production, sourcing the remaining required fruit from established farming contacts.

The Roederer non-vintage cuvée

Cuvee

Cuvée is a French wine term derived from cuve, meaning vat or tank. The term cuvée is used with several different meanings, more or less based on the concept of a tank of wine put to some purpose:...

s include the extra dry Brut Premier, Grand Vin Sec and the demi-sec Carte Blanche, all Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir

Pinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...

 and Chardonnay

Chardonnay

Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used to make white wine. It is originated from the Burgundy wine region of eastern France but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand...

 blended approximately in 2:1 proportion, with a small portion of Pinot Meunier

Pinot meunier

Pinot Meunier, , also known as Meunier or Black Riesling, is a variety of black wine grape most noted for being one of the three main grapes used in the production of champagne...

. 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

Rosé

A rosé is a type of wine that has some of the color typical of a red wine, but only enough to turn it pink. The pink color can range from a pale orange to a vivid near-purple, depending on the grapes and wine making techniques.- Production techniques :There are three major ways to produce rosé...

 is made by red wine addition rather than by saignée method. 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.

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

Acquisitions

The Roederer portfolio also holds Bordeaux

Bordeaux wine

A Bordeaux wine is any wine produced in the Bordeaux region of France. Average vintages produce over 700 million bottles of Bordeaux wine, ranging from large quantities of everyday table wine, to some of the most expensive and prestigious wines in the world...

 estates Château de Pez

Château de Pez

Château de Pez is a vineyard located across the road from Château Calon-Ségur, in the northern parts of Saint Estèphe. Traditionally one of the leading Bourgeois Supérieur wines of the Médoc, it is believed by some to deserve higher classification. In a 2003 Cru Bourgeois classification revision,...

 and Château Haut-Beausejour in Saint Estèphe. In late 2006, the Rouzaud family acquired majority share in the second-growth

Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855

The Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 resulted from the 1855 Exposition Universelle de Paris, when Emperor Napoleon III requested a classification system for France's best Bordeaux wines which were to be on display for visitors from around the world...

 estate Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is a winery in the Pauillac appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is also the name of the red wine produced by this property...

. The deal also included the Cru Bourgeois

Cru Bourgeois

The Cru Bourgeois classification lists some of the high quality wines from the Left Bank Bordeaux wine regions that were not included in the 1855 Classification of Classed Growths, or Grands Crus Classés...

estate Château Bernadotte.

Also included in the Roederer Group are Champagne Deutz

Deutz (wine)

Deutz, formerly known as Deutz Geldermann, is a Champagne producer based in the Aÿ region of Champagne. The house was founded in 1838 and run by successive generations of the Deutz and Geldermann families...

, Ramos Pinto Port in Portugal

Portuguese wine

Portuguese wine is the result of traditions introduced to the region by ancient civilizations, such as the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, and mostly the Romans. Portugal started to export its wines to Rome during the Roman Empire. Modern exports developed with trade to England after the...

, Domaines Ott in Provence

Provence wine

Provence wine comes from the French wine-producing region of Provence in southeast France. The Romans called the area nostra provincia , giving the region its name...

, Roederer Estate

Roederer Estate

Roederer Estate, founded in 1982 by Jean-Claude Rouzaud, then president of the parent company Champagne Louis Roederer, is a well-known California winery. It produces estate-bottled sparkling wines from Mendocino County's cool, fog-shrouded Anderson Valley...

 and Scharffenberger in California

California wine

California wine has a long and continuing history, and in the late twentieth century became recognized as producing some of the world's finest wine. While wine is made in all fifty U.S. states, up to 90% of American wine is produced in the state...

.

External links

• Louis Roederer official site