94pts James Suckling

The first impression is as invigorating as a sea breeze. I love the interplay of mirabelle, grapefruit and lychee fruit with minty freshness and waxiness from lees contact. And all this is welded to a beautifully proportioned palate with plenty of structure, the acidity bright and the mousse animating. Very salty finish that pulls you back for more. A cuvee of 41% chardonnay, 33% pinot noir and 26% pinot meunier. Of these, 15% fermented in oak and 85% in stainless steel. The final blend contained 36% reserve perpetual and 10% reserve wines of the 2012 - 2018 vintage from oak. The dosage is 7 g/l.

93pts Wine Spectator

An elegant Champagne, with bright acidity buoying a well-integrated range of ripe pear and white cherry, almond skin, fleur de sel and apple blossom notes. Fine and seamless, with a lingering, spiced finish.

93pts Wine Enthusiast

The latest iteration of Roederer’s non vintage collection, this is tense with a fine aging character. It has richness and great fruit, a fine line of structure at the end.

Tasting Notes

Lovely golden yellow, very champagne-like, hue. Dense and steady flow of extremely fine bubbles. Deep, broad bouquet of ripe fruit (wild peaches, William pears) combined with citrus (lemons, blood oranges). The iodized and smoky notes, associated with the autolysis and the ageing in wood, add aromatic freshness. Then come notes of chalk and a hint of reduction, suggesting that the wine will be concentrated and powerful. The entry to the palate is delicious showing a rich and robust texture. There is a very juicy and concentrated sensation as if you were biting into a ripe fruit. The substance is caressingly soft, coating the palate but is then immediately lightened by the delicate bubbles. The length is created by a lovely backbone of chalky freshness.

The wine is both delectably rich, with a slightly roasted character, and super fresh thanks to a salivating finish. The smoky notes then take over to underpin a very flavorsome finish.Collection 244 marks the return of the texture of the Meunier from the Marne and the Montagne, which adds a lovely richness to the well-structured and saline Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes.

Winemaker Notes

This 244th blend from the Louis Roederer Champagne House is based on the finest successes of the 2019 harvest, a year of record-breaking temperatures brought by particularly intense heat waves. Dry and continental and of magnificent maturity, this year gave us wines that were dense and fresh, with a masterful balance, conducive to bringing out the powerful and luscious Collection character in the blend.
All the wines from this harvest were rigorously tasted, plot by plot, before being blended in a complex symphony recreating the perfect picture of the vintage.

Aged for almost 4 years in our cellars, Collection 244 is a wine that has reached great plenitude, borne by the maturity of the year, the freshness of the Perpetual Reserve and the complexity of the oak-aged reserve wines. It is a wonderfully well-balanced champagne with an incredibly luscious power, marking the return of the Meunier grape variety, which adds a fruity, caressing softness to the more structured, saline Pinots noirs and Chardonnays.

Technical Information

Blend: 41% Chardonnay, 33% Pinot Noir, 26% Pinot Meunier

Appellation: 1/3 "La Rivière" vineyards, 1/3 "La Montagne" vineyards, 1/3 "La Côte" vineyards

244th Blend: 54% 2019 vintage, 31% Perpetual Reserve (2012-2018), and 10% Reserved wine aged in oak.

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