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Come to the store this Saturday 10/9 for a tasting with Jean-Remi Barbier from 4pm- and a comparison with Cristal for the prompt!
This is a home-run cuvée from Roederer. The Collection 242 is offering more than 40% of reserve wines with more than 3 years aging in the cellar. When I first tasted the wine, I was blown away by its great depth and the beautiful multi-layering in the palate. There’s fine balance and purity at the same time. I know that Roederer put a lot of effort and energy into this cuvée, and they’ve certainly done it right. Kudos! - Daniel
This debut release is very impressive indeed, wafting from the glass with notes of pear, peach, ripe citrus fruit, toasted almonds, fresh pastry and white flowers. Medium to full-bodied, pillowy and textural, it's concentrated and layered, with lively acids, an enlivening pinpoint mousse and a long, sapid finish. Brut Premier was already a very persuasive wine, but the new Brut Collection nevertheless represents a step up. - William Kelley, Robert Parker Wine Advocate
Really satisfying, complete, beautifully balanced nose with some evolution and richness. A little bit of toastiness and it tastes pretty ripe. Very different indeed from a Brut Zéro champagne! Firm. Some tasters may object to the dosage. But it's a beautiful wine. - Jancis Robinson
It’s abnormal that we should fête the release of a non-vintage cuvée from a Grandes Marques Champagne house, yet this debut of Collection 242 really deserves it. A couple of recent tastings have confirmed how special a wine this is, and how far Roederer have stepped it up from the already accomplished Brut Premier.
The Collection 242 is named as such as it represents the house’s 242nd blend since its foundation in 1776- more precisely, the youngest wines in the cuvée date from the 2017 vintage, the 242nd vintage since founding (take care not to make a fencepost error in counting!). The tripartite composition includes some 50% base wine, blended with a third of wine drawn from a perpetual cuvée begun in 2012 and the balance of foudre-aged wine from young vines destined in their maturity for Cristal. For this iteration the blend skews toward Chardonnay while 36% Pinot Noir and 22% Pinot Meunier make up the balance.
This is pretty toasty and hedonistic as far as entry-level cuvées go, yet this has such a riveting and energetic spine at the same time. It feels as if toasted almond and fresh pastry are wound around a core of lime and Bartlett pear. It feels satisfyingly complete, offering a harmonious sense of layering in the palate and a notably vinous finish.
Come to the store this Saturday 10/9 for a tasting with Jean-Remi Barbier from 4pm- and a comparison with Cristal for the prompt!
Cheers,
- Spencer
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