Louis Roederer & Cristal
Louis Roederer is famous for Cristal, which was created in 1876 for Alexander II and disappeared after the Revolution. In the early 1950s, the relaunch took place with the 1945 vintage, making it freely available for the first time.
After the October Revolution, Louis Roederer reinvented itself with non-vintage (NV) champagne and achieved success in the lower price segment.
With the transition to biodynamic viticulture and the meticulous work of cellar master Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, Roederer has established itself among the qualitatively leading houses in Champagne.
The house was founded in Reims in 1776 as Dubois Père & Fils. In 1833, Louis Roederer took over the house from his uncle. Six years after his death, his son Louis II changed the name of the house to “Louis Roederer”.
The house remains family-owned to this day and is led in the seventh generation by Frédéric Rouzaud.
The style of Louis Roederer is characterized by mineral freshness, complexity, and creamy elegance. Compared to Bollinger, Roederer champagnes have less power and volume but resemble Pol Roger in minerality and charm. Vanilla notes arise partly from barrel aging and partly from long maturation periods. Particularly noteworthy are Cristal, the vintage Blanc de Blancs, and the vintage champagnes. Cristal typically matures for six years on the lees. Annual production exceeds three million bottles, distributed internationally, of which 300,000 to 500,000 bottles are Cristal.
Napoleon’s army brought champagne to Russia. The Tsar’s officers occupied Reims during the Napoleonic Wars, and Russia’s love for champagne began to ignite.
From then on, Alexander I drank only champagne — specifically Veuve Clicquot.
At the Three Emperors Dinner at Café Anglais, Louis II Roederer presented the 1847 vintage in a transparent lead-glass bottle made by a Belgian glassblower. Alexander II was so impressed that he ordered this champagne for his personal use. It was not until 1876 that the presentation was perfected and Cristal officially went into production.
The bottles were made of genuine crystal glass so that poison could be detected, and the bottom of the bottles was flat. In addition to the high dosage, yellow Chartreuse was also added to the cuvée: Cristal looked like liquid gold. Although Alexander was assassinated in 1881, the success of Cristal remained unbroken, and this era only ended with the October Revolution in 1917.
At its launch in 1953, Cristal 1945 was a Brut champagne but, compared to the nutty, stricter aromas of Dom Pérignon and Bollinger Vintage, it displayed exotic fruit and a delicate caramel sweetness on the finish, along with vanilla notes.
In the last ten years, Cristal has become more mineral and precise and is no longer quite as creamy. Today it is a cuvée from 45 Grand Cru parcels. Since 2012, it has been produced exclusively from grapes grown biodynamically.
In recent decades, Roederer has strengthened its position among the leading houses. Quality is based on grapes from good terroirs. Since 1999, Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon has been Chef de Cave and has improved vineyard work to increase grape quality. There is a growing transition to organic farming; since 2012, Cristal has been made exclusively from organically grown grapes. Lécaillon uses new oak barrels of various sizes and avoids malolactic fermentation in some wines to preserve freshness. Decisions about fermentation (in tank or barrel) and malolactic fermentation are made individually depending on the parcel and wine.
A hundred years ago, Roederer was the third-largest champagne house and strongly export-oriented.
Thus, shortly after the Revolution, the house lost not only Russia but also its second most important market, the United States. Prohibition began in 1920. Europe was also suffering from the economic crisis.
For this reason, Léon Olry-Roederer created an affordable NV champagne in the 1920s, which brought the house tremendous success. In the 1930s, land was so cheap after the devastation caused by phylloxera that his widow Camille Olry-Roederer was able to acquire large holdings of the best vineyards. These are located in famous terroirs: Aÿ, Hautvillers, Cumières, Louvois, Verzy, Verzenay, Vertus, Avize, Cramant, Chouilly, and Le Mesnil.