Roederer Estate L’Ermitage 2009 (Archive)
- WA
- WS
- SUNSET
Reviews
93 Points
The Wine Advocate September 10, 2020
“Made with ten grams per liter dosage and disgorged in January of 2016, the 2009 L’Ermitage Brut slowly offers up scents of apple pie, quince paste, toast, honey, hay and mushrooms with touches of crème caramel and an undercurrent of shell-like minerality. The medium-bodied palate is still offering loads of pure orchard fruits with a wrapping of brioche and toasty accents, creamy but still lively mousse and a long, layered finish. This is in a lovely spot for drinking now but will benefit from more time in bottle if you like mature bubbles.”
Overview
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” (special) blend that allows for longer aging, which produces a fine wine with elegance and finesse. Four members of the blending team include winemakers from Champagne Louis Roederer in France and Roederer Estate in California, together totaling over 130 years of experience. The wine for the reserve dosage added to the L’Ermitage 2009 was aged five years in a French oak cask. Following disgorgement, L’Ermitage 2009 was aged an additional five months (minimum) on the cork prior to release.
Tech
Appellation: Anderson Valley, California, United States
Varietals: 52% Chardonnay, 48% Pinot Noir – 4% aged reserve wine, vintage 2006 and 2007
Wine Alcohol: 12.2%
Titratable Acidity: 0.89
pH: 3.09
Residual Sugar: 10.5 g/L
Cases Produced: 3,354 750ml cases, and 110 magnum cases
Tasting Notes
Fine tiny bubbles and a long lasting mousse are the usual footprints of the L’Ermitage cuvée. This cuvée is showing great notes of apricot tart and hazelnut. The mouth feel is smooth, velvety, creamy with a well enveloped citrus acidity and long finish.
Latest tasting done on September 2016.
