The Roederer Collection 245 is the fourth release in Roederer's innovative numbered cuvée series, following the popular 242, 243, and 244, which came out last year and is showing incredibly well right now with some extra bottle age. This solera-style Champagne has replaced their non-vintage brut and marks a shift towards sustainable practices and heightened quality, driven by the grower Champagne movement. Crafted from ~50% 2020 vintage, 40% from their perpetual reserve ('12-'19), and 10% reserve wine aged in oak, the 245 embodies Roederer's focus on terroir and meticulous blending. The 2020 growing season in Champagne was warm and dry, with an early bud break and harvest. Ripe, healthy grapes with high sugar levels and balanced acidity resulted in concentrated, fresh wines with excellent aging potential. The blend for the 245 is 41% Chardonnay, 33% Pinot Noir, and 26% Pinot Meunier. The 245 is complex and beautifully balanced, with partial malolactic fermentation and a dosage of around 7 grams; it delivers vibrant acidity, depth, and persistence, making it one of the best non-vintage cuvees in the game. Roederer has increased its use of reserve wine aged in oak, adding further complexity, and each iteration is becoming increasingly complex as the solera ages and more vintages are added. The result is an elegant, finely tuned champagne that is perfect for any occasion and one of the absolute best buys in Non-Vintage Champagne.
John Gilman 93 points! "The newly-arrived release of the Louis Roederer “Collection 245” is from the base year of 2020, which comprises fifty-five percent of the blend this year. The remaining forty-five percent of the cuvée this year is split between wines from the solera started by Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon in 2012 for this bottling and which constitute thirty-five percent of the blend. The remaining ten percent made up of reserve wines that the maison has in the cellar for their other non-vintage cuvées. The final cépages ended up being forty-one percent chardonnay, thirty-five percent pinot noir and twenty-four percent pinot meunier. The wine was aged sur lattes for just under four years and finished with a dosage of seven grams per liter. Only twenty-two percent of the vins clairs this year went through malo for the wine. The bouquet is pure, precise and still youthful, offering up scents of apple, fresh apricot, lemon, bread dough, chalky minerality, dried flowers and the first hints of smokiness in the upper register. On the palate the wine is crisp, full-bodied, mineral-driven and beautifully zesty, with a superb core of fruit, elegant mousse, a lovely spine of acidity and fine focus and balance on the long, complex and elegant finish. This is a beautiful wine and if any other Grandes Marques is making non-vintage Brut at this quality level these days, I am unaware of it! Fine juice. (Drink between 2025-2055)"
Jub Dunnuck (Audrey Frick) 93 points! "Part of a new collection that’s just reaching the market now, the NV Champagne Collection 245 is based on the 2020 vintage. (The trilogy of vintages in the collection are from the early ripening 2018, which is lighter and fruitier, the 2019, which is richer and more powerful, and the 2020, which is somewhere in between the other two.) The blend of the 245 is 41% Chardonnay, 33% Pinot Noir, and the rest Meunier. It has a reflective straw hue and offers notes of fresh almond, bread dough, and fresh flowers. Medium-bodied on the palate, with a fruity nature, it’s crunchy and fresh in the glass, with a lovely chalky texture, good refinement, a note of fresh nectarine, and a clean finish. Dry, but with a delicate rounded feel and some depth throughout, it opens to show more of its salinity and the delicate reductive smoke that frames the wine with oyster shell-like umami character. It’s approachable now but will age with ease."
N.V. Louis Roederer Champagne Collection 245
N.V. Louis Roederer Champagne Collection 245
The Roederer Collection 245 is the fourth release in Roederer's innovative numbered cuvée series, following the popular 242, 243, and 244, which came out last year and is showing incredibly well right now with some extra bottle age. This solera-style Champagne has replaced their non-vintage brut and marks a shift towards sustainable practices and heightened quality, driven by the grower Champagne movement. Crafted from ~50% 2020 vintage, 40% from their perpetual reserve ('12-'19), and 10% reserve wine aged in oak, the 245 embodies Roederer's focus on terroir and meticulous blending. The 2020 growing season in Champagne was warm and dry, with an early bud break and harvest. Ripe, healthy grapes with high sugar levels and balanced acidity resulted in concentrated, fresh wines with excellent aging potential. The blend for the 245 is 41% Chardonnay, 33% Pinot Noir, and 26% Pinot Meunier. The 245 is complex and beautifully balanced, with partial malolactic fermentation and a dosage of around 7 grams; it delivers vibrant acidity, depth, and persistence, making it one of the best non-vintage cuvees in the game. Roederer has increased its use of reserve wine aged in oak, adding further complexity, and each iteration is becoming increasingly complex as the solera ages and more vintages are added. The result is an elegant, finely tuned champagne that is perfect for any occasion and one of the absolute best buys in Non-Vintage Champagne.
John Gilman 93 points! "The newly-arrived release of the Louis Roederer “Collection 245” is from the base year of 2020, which comprises fifty-five percent of the blend this year. The remaining forty-five percent of the cuvée this year is split between wines from the solera started by Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon in 2012 for this bottling and which constitute thirty-five percent of the blend. The remaining ten percent made up of reserve wines that the maison has in the cellar for their other non-vintage cuvées. The final cépages ended up being forty-one percent chardonnay, thirty-five percent pinot noir and twenty-four percent pinot meunier. The wine was aged sur lattes for just under four years and finished with a dosage of seven grams per liter. Only twenty-two percent of the vins clairs this year went through malo for the wine. The bouquet is pure, precise and still youthful, offering up scents of apple, fresh apricot, lemon, bread dough, chalky minerality, dried flowers and the first hints of smokiness in the upper register. On the palate the wine is crisp, full-bodied, mineral-driven and beautifully zesty, with a superb core of fruit, elegant mousse, a lovely spine of acidity and fine focus and balance on the long, complex and elegant finish. This is a beautiful wine and if any other Grandes Marques is making non-vintage Brut at this quality level these days, I am unaware of it! Fine juice. (Drink between 2025-2055)"
Jub Dunnuck (Audrey Frick) 93 points! "Part of a new collection that’s just reaching the market now, the NV Champagne Collection 245 is based on the 2020 vintage. (The trilogy of vintages in the collection are from the early ripening 2018, which is lighter and fruitier, the 2019, which is richer and more powerful, and the 2020, which is somewhere in between the other two.) The blend of the 245 is 41% Chardonnay, 33% Pinot Noir, and the rest Meunier. It has a reflective straw hue and offers notes of fresh almond, bread dough, and fresh flowers. Medium-bodied on the palate, with a fruity nature, it’s crunchy and fresh in the glass, with a lovely chalky texture, good refinement, a note of fresh nectarine, and a clean finish. Dry, but with a delicate rounded feel and some depth throughout, it opens to show more of its salinity and the delicate reductive smoke that frames the wine with oyster shell-like umami character. It’s approachable now but will age with ease."
