Roederer Estate L’Ermitage Rosé 2015 (Current)
Price: $100.00
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 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 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.
The rosé blend is crafted using a small fraction of red wine, from pinot noir grown on the estate, especially made for this purpose using Burgundian maceration technique that allows skin contact to extract color and aromas. This red wine brings delicate berry flavors and a nice color to further extend the L’Ermitage smoothness and subtleties, allowing for a unique tasting experience.
The wine for the dosage used in the L'Ermitage Rosé was the 2015 wine liquor, aged for 6 years in a French oak cask. Following disgorgement, L'Ermitage was aged an additional 6 months (minimum) on the cork prior to release.
The 2015 vintage was on the tail end of a two-year drought spell. Winter was mild and budbreak was very early in February. Bloom occurred in early May when it was windy and cool... then June got very hot, all pushing for an early harvest starting August 7th. Labor was difficult to secure to harvest quickly enough and the last lots for sparkling were picked September 10th. Overall, the yields in 2015 were good with plenty of maturity for the late picks.
Tech
Varietals: 50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir — 3.9% is aged reserve wine from 2010, 2012, and 2014
Wine Alcohol: 12.7%
pH: 3.06
Harvest Start Date: August 7, 2015
Harvest End Date: September 10, 2015
Dosage: 8 g/L
Tasting Notes
Fine tiny bubbles and a long lasting mousse are the usual footprints of the L’Ermitage cuvée. Pale salmon color. Mineral and light berry aromatic notes. Flavors of red apple tart with bright acid wrapped in yeast autolysis creaminess. Pinot width and structure, but light on its feet. Salivating finish.
