Not all Champagnes are the same. There’s a temptation to think that since the wines are made from the same varieties, from grapes harvested in the Champagne region, and to a method which has been practised for centuries, very little separates the wine quality from one brand to the next. This is an assumption borne out of ignorance.
Every stage of Champagne production is to crucial to the quality of the final product: the vineyard sites, the viticulture, the harvest date, the speed with which the grapes are pressed (to avoid deterioration of the fruit), the assemblage of the base wine, the nature and extent of lees ageing, the quality and dosage of the liqueur d’expedition and the final ageing on the cork prior to release.
Experts can recognise in the finished wine how successfully the producer managed everyone of these processes. It’s no surprise that, for as long as Champagne Louis Roederer entered the World Champagne and Sparkling Wine Awards, it walked off with the lion’s share of the trophies. They also understand that results like these are not a matter of chance: they study Roederer’s Chef de Cave Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon approach to viticulture and winemaking to understand better why his wines are always exceptional.
Champagne Louis Roederer’s successes at the World Champagne and Sparkling Wine Awards is testimony to the importance of a relentless focus on quality. Experts can recognise in the finished wine how successfully the producer managed everyone of these processes. They also understand that results like these are not a matter of chance: they study Roederer’s Chef de Cave Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon approach to viticulture and winemaking to understand better why his wines are always exceptional.
Unlike the other Grandes Marques houses, Louis Roederer owns or controls almost all its grape sources. Its vineyards – which are always in the best locations - are organically (and in some cases bio-dynamically) farmed. The harvest dates take account of climate change; so does the winemaking methodology. Unlike other houses whose primary concerns are return on investment for outside shareholders (usually in publicly listed companies) Roederer is family owned and is only driven by considerations of quality.
So it should come as no surprise that, for the 6th year in a row, Champagne Louis Roederer has retained its title as the ‘World’s Most Admired Champagne Brand′
To collate the results, Drinks International polls the world’s leading independent sommeliers, wholesalers, bar managers, Masters of Wine and specialist wine writers.
