Champagne Louis Roederer 'Collection 245' NV

From the winery:

Driven by a new ambition and freedom, with the creation of Collection, we are writing the next chapter of our story. The times we live in; climate change and the importance of practising a sustainable viticulture that respects the living environment in order to fully express the qualities of the terroir, these are all factors that must be taken into account.
The finest works are often forged by constraint and adversity. Driven by a new energy, we decided to reinvent our blends, reshape our know-how and rethink our methods in order to fall into step with Nature's new tempo. The creation of Collection was therefore something we had to do.
It is an evolution in structure, form and style. The start of a new chapter in the story of our Champagne House that we are continuing to write with passion.

Collection is based on a selection of plots located in the heart of the Champagne region that are suited to its identity and where the emphasis is on sustainable growing practices.
We therefore carefully redefined all the plots for Collection, those on our Louis Roederer estates and those part of our historic partnerships, to retain only those plots rooted in this "Cœur de Terroir" (heart of the Terroir): lieux-dits, exposures, lands with strong identities, usually chalk soils, those most capable of giving us the best of their fruit, vintage after vintage.

Thus freed from any imposed formula, in a single-minded pursuit of the best wine each year, we are placing the art of blending even more at the heart of our approach; better still, it is becoming the prime element, as our ambition is to take the quality of our multi-vintage wines to the next level.

Today, this wine is entering a new, important phase. It is more than just an evolution in style, it is a change of template, a velvet revolution that gives birth to this multi-vintage Collection champagne, another important milestone in our quest for progress and absolute quality.

To further enhance the freshness and to balance the superb maturity of the harvested grapes, we have created a "Perpetual Reserve". Started with the 2012 vintage, enriched each year with wines from the latest harvest and stored in large capacity stainless steel vats, this Perpetual Reserve brings new tasting sensations, both tactile and gustatory: the wine acquires more breadth, depth, substance and contrast; its texture is fleshier and more enveloping, adding to the overall complexity.

In parallel to this Perpetual Reserve, we have greatly increased the proportion of oak-aged reserve wines that goes into the blends. These reserve wines nicely balance the freshness brought by the Perpetual Reserve wine and lend the wine greater intensity.