Ratings and Reviews

“This wine is extremely deep, complex and concentrated in flavor while maintaining wonderful finesse in texture. It starts with fragrant aromas of freshly baked bread and cinnamon. Those are followed by a creamy mouthfeel, pinpoint bubbles and subtle peach, white cherry and apricot flavors that are both delicate and focused at the same time, leading to a long finish. It is so tempting now but best after 2020.”

“This wine’s clean raspberry freshness is underlined by a salty tang and the yeasty scent of rising bread. Mouthfilling with a gentle, persistent mousse, it feels complete and integrated, a rose to pour with Dungeness crab.”

“Bubbly doesn’t get much better than this elegant, grand and sumptuous rosé. The color is pale salmon, while aromas showcase an exotic blend of spices and flowers. The flavor is vivid and enticing but not as simple as just saying cherries and ginger. Though this is dry, it’s so mature and rich that it almost tastes sweet. A wonderful, ginger-cookie flavor lingers a long time on the finish. This will improve in a cool cellar through at least 2020.”

Roederer knows rosé. This one is a blend from the top selections of pinot noir and chardonnay grown at their 540-acre estate in Anderson Valley. The blending team attains the color and flavor depth by including a small amount of pinot noir still wine, one that goes through a long cold soak, then finishes fermentation off the skins to minimize the tannic extraction. The result is a rosé that has flavor depth without tasting fruity. It achieves the stylistic goals of Roederer’s wines from Champagne: freshness and finesse. This wine is delicate, with hints of caramel, subtle earthy complexity and fruit depth to balance it. Fine bubbles carry the flavors on a clean line. Classical, if such a thing can be said of a California sparkling wine.

Racy, a term often used to describe Champagne, rarely applies to California sparkling wine. Roederer Estate’s second release of L’Ermitage Rosé is one of the few exceptions-racy, as well as delicate, layered, savory and gently sweet. It’s a compelling take on a clean sparkler from the California coast, with the feel of the cold ocean and something of the taste of the sea creating tension and motion in the wine. If I were to describe the color as the pink blush on a golden apple, I would only diminish it to a cliché. The color is as brilliant as the wine itself. This is a breakthrough wine for California, and perhaps the ultimate match for Dungeness crab. Don’t miss it.

Much more robust and full-bodied than the L’Ermitage brut, but still elegant and fine. Offers yeast, smoke and vanilla-tinged strawberry flavors, in a slightly rugged texture. Age through the end of the decade.