Roederer Estate L’Ermitage 2004 Late Disgorged (Archive)

Overview

Founded in 1982, Roederer Estate is nestled in Mendocino County’s fog-shrouded, Anderson Valley. As the California property of Champagne Louis Roederer, Roederer Estate builds upon a centuries-old tradition of fine winemaking. The premium grape growing region’s proximity to the Pacific ocean gives rise to a gentle cycle of warm days and cool nights, allowing grapes to mature slowly on the vine and develop full varietal character.

Among the very few California sparkling wine houses that only sources estate-grown fruit, Roederer Estate is also meticulous about all its farming decisions. The winemaking process begins with in-depth knowledge of the Estate soils to introduce open lyre trellis system or high density plantation, extends to the decision to farm vineyards organically and biodynamically, and finishes by painstakingly tracking grape maturity to achieve perfect balance at harvest.

L’Ermitage, Roederer Estate’s special Tête de Cuvée, is a sparkling wine made only in exceptional years from pre-selected, estate-grown grapes. Carrying on the tradition of Champagne Louis Roederer in France, Roederer Estate produces its sparkling wines in the traditional French méthode traditionelle and adds special oak-aged reserve wines to each blend. L’Ermitage debuted with the 1989 vintage.

Winemaking

Roederer Estate wines are made with juice from just the cuvée pressing; no première or deuxième taille is used. The concept of the vintage L’Ermitage is the same one that is used in Champagne: Only the best of the vintage is selected. These are exceptional wines that create a noble blend that allows for longer aging, which produces a fine wine with elegance and finesse.

The 2004 harvest was one of the earliest for the local wine industry. In fact, even the pear harvest started early and you have to go back to 1928 to find a similar early occurrence! Winter and spring were mild in temperatures causing an early budbreak. The crop quantity was below average and explained by the rainy 2003 spring when the future buds were being created by the plant. Hang time of the fruit was typical due to summer pleasant temperatures. At harvest grapes showed great acid concentration when reaching sugar ripeness. The wines crafted in 2004 were bright, clean and focused, perfect for long aging time on the yeast like this 2004 LD.

The dosage wine added to the L’Ermitage 2004 LD is from vintage 2013 and was aged for 5.5 years in a French oak cask. Following disgorgement, L’Ermitage 2004 LD was aged an additional eight months on the cork prior to release.

Tech

Appellation: Appellation: Anderson Valley, California, United States

Varietals: Varietals: 52% Chardonnay, 48% Pinot Noir – 4% aged reserve wine (CH vintage 2000)

Wine Alcohol: 12.3%

Titratable Acidity: 1.2%

pH: 2.92

Residual Sugar: 11.5 g/L

Dosage: 10 g/L

Cases Produced: 96