Louis Roederer - Collection 242 Brut Champagne (Gift Box) NV (750ml)
Price: $58.00
#76 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2021
| Producer | Louis Roederer |
| Country | France |
| Region | Champagne |
| Varietal | Champagne Blend |
| Sku | 181341 |
| Size | 750ml |
Lettie Teague, The Wall Street Journal:
"A great Champagne producer rarely changes its non-vintage cuvée—the signature of the
house. So when Champagne Louis Roederer stopped making its highly regarded Brut
Premier, it was news. The bottling that replaced it bears the name Louis Roederer
Collection 242, this being the house’s 242nd blend, produced primarily from the 2017
harvest with wines from earlier vintages. Rich and creamy with notes of hazelnut and
toast and a satiny finish, this Champagne is new, festive and, thankfully, a decided
upgrade."
Wine Enthusiast: 94 Points
This is the first in a new series of nonvintage Champagnes that replaces the producer's well-known Brut Premier. Based around the 2017 vintage and blended with wines from six other years the wine is dry while also having a rich toasty character alongside mineral white fruit and spice flavors. Drink now. ? Roger Voss
James Suckling: 94 Points
Aromas of cooked apple, bread dough and lemon tart follow through to a full body with round, delicious fruit and a rich, flavorful finish. Yet, it remains tight and fine with lovely, compressed bubbles. New energy and freshness. Medium-to full-bodied with layers of fruit and vivid intensity. 42% chardonnay, 36% pinot noir and 22% pinot meunier. 8 grams dosage. Four years on the less. A new-format non-vintage that designates the year of the 242nd harvest, 2017, plus reserve wine of 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. Drink or hold.
Wine Advocate: 93+ Points
"Roederer's Brut Premier was created in the 1980s to prove to consumers that we could deliver consistent quality with a blend that compensated for less than perfectly ripe vintages" explains Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon. "We were blending in pursuit of maturity of ripeness. The concept behind the Brut Collection is the opposite: we're looking for freshness?and we are embracing singularity something we're emphasizing by enumerating each year's blend." This project has been in the making since 2012 when Lecaillon set aside 21000 liters of wine to constitute a perpetual reserve aged in large tanks without malolactic fermentation. Sourcing has evolved too: less must is coming from cooperatives and only vineyards cultivated without the use of herbicides inform the blend. A dedicated team oversees all this visiting every grower three times per year. And vinification is parcel by parcel to deliver a maximum of blending components. Iteration 242 is based on the 2017 vintage (56%) supplemented by 34% reserve wines from the perpetual reserve established in 2012 and 10% foudre-aged reserve wines. So much for the composition and concept of the new NV Brut Collection 242 but how does it taste? 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. Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon never seems to rest on his laurels. Roederer is already one of the region's leaders in farming having committed two decades ago to a plan that most other grandes marques are only now beginning to emulate?an evolution outlined in more detail in the March 2020 Week 1 Issue of The Wine Advocate to which I refer readers looking for more insights into this house's methodology. This year's news nine years in the making is the end of Brut Premier and its replacement by Brut Collection: a new cuvée that's thoroughly described in the accompanying tasting notes. Meanwhile Lecaillon continues to tread where others will follow: he's rethinking bubbles in light of the richer more vinous wines delivered by a warmer climate opting for lower atmospheric pressure in some cuvées than others (something for which there's ample historic precedent in Champagne I should add). If wine is a cultural as well as an agronomic product Lecaillon's tenure chez Roederer is amply demonstrating what can be achieved when a chef des caves isn't merely a technician but rather someone who understands what excellence in wine is all about.
John Gilman: 93 Points
The new “Collection 242” non-vintage Brut from Champagne Louis Roederer is from the
base year of 2017. This is a new cuvée that is destined to replace the Brut Premier bottling in due course. As the wine is from the base year of 2017, which was most favorable for the chardonnay grape, the ultimate cépages is weighted that way a bit at forty-two percent chardonnay, thirty-six percent pinot noir and twenty-two percent pinot meunier, but these numbers include the substantial amount of reserve wines included, so the 2017 juice includes a far higher percentage of chardonnay. The reserve wines included here are truly exceptional as twelve percent of the blend is comprised of wines that were aged in oak foudres prior to b
Wine Spectator: 92 Points
A bright harmonious Champagne layering well-cut acidity and a chalky underpinning with flavors of white cherry crunchy pineapple green almond and beeswax. The finely detailed mousse carries hints of saffron and spring blossom on the lingering finish. Drink now through 2024. 19537 cases imported. ?AN
Vinous: 92 Points
The NV Collection 242 is a new wine from Roederer that replaces the Brut Premier in the range. The Collection (which now will be numbered by harvest) is a blend of three components: a perpetual reserve done in the classic non-malo Roederer style reserve wines in oak with a touch of malo and a base vintage in this case 2017. That blend results in a NV Champagne that offers lovely richness and resonance with plenty of yellow orchard fruit and floral character. Whereas Brut Premier was typically a focused nervy wine that while consistently excellent also was not always in line with the Roederer house style the 242 tastes more like a Roederer Champagne in terms of its complexity. Incidentally there is no Vintage Cristal or Cristal Rosé in 2017 so all the best lots went into this bottling. Dosage is 8 grams per liter so lower than the 9 or so that was typical for recent Brut Premier and much lower than the 12-13 that was once customary. The 242 was also bottled with a bit less sugar than the norm which results in lower atmospheres of pressure in the bottle and silkier texture. ?Brut Premier was created in the late 1970s and 1980s when we struggled to ripen? Chef de Caves Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon explained. ?It was our way of compensating for lack of ripeness in the field and the variability of quality across vintages. Because of climate change achieving ripeness is not an issue today. Instead our challenge is maintaining freshness and precision. For that reason we decided to re-think our NV and start from a place of positive rather than negative selection.?
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