2 Champagne must-haves for your cellar & best vintages of the 21st century

No wine is more suitable for a celebration than an exclusive champagne. The tradition of drinking Champagne during a special occasion dates back to 1789, when royal courts were richly pouring champagne. Today we love to pop a bottle as the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve or when we want to celebrate a special occasion like a birthday or an important professional landmark.

We selected two Champagne Houses that are respected worldwide for their history, vision and high-quality champagne: Dom Perignon & Louis Roederer Cristal.   

DOM PERIGNON

The legacy of a monk

At Saint-Pierre d’Hautvillers Abbey, the Moët & Chandon house perpetuates the legend of Dom Pérignon, a Benedictine monk who contributed to the development of champagne. According to legend, Dom Pérignon invented champagne by sealing bottles of white wine with beeswax. The flow of sugar causes a second fermentation, giving rise to the effervescence and foam specific to Champagne wines. Dom Pérignon was also a master of blending, blending the best grapes and different grape varieties to obtain a harmonious wine. Dom Pérignon is therefore the legacy of the visionary monk.

The particularities of Dom Pérignon champagne

Champagne Dom Pérignon is an ambitious vintage because it is only produced in good years. According to Richard Geoffreoy, the former Dom Pérignon cellar master: “the grapes are never the same from one year to the next. If a harvest does not meet Dom Pérignon’s criteria, there will be no vintage that year. This is not a value judgment, but an aesthetic vision.”

The grapes come from a vineyard classified as Premier Cru, located at the Abbaye d’Hautvilliers. The other vineyards producing Dom Pérignon are Grand Cru and are among the most beautiful in the region.

The style of Champagne Dom Pérignon owes a lot to the emblematic cellar master Richard Geoffroy. He ran the house for 28 years and helped create balanced, harmonious and magnificent vintages with his skills as an oenologist.

Maison Dom Pérignon markets three types of vintages, the most famous of which is Dom Pérignon Vintage. Each bottle bears the vintage of the harvest and is on the market approximately nine years after production. Richard Geoffroy is at the origin of the Plénitude vintages. This is a series of Dom Pérignon vintages offering additional years of aging. The Dom Pérignon P2 cuvée is marketed after maturation on lees for 12 to 15 years. The Dom Pérignon P3 vintage is marketed after approximately 25 years of maturation on lees.

Each Dom Pérignon vintage offers a unique experience and invites consumers to savor the passing of time, encouraging hedonism and leaving lasting memories. 

The Moët & Chandon house, owner of the abbey since 1823, markets exceptional vintages from the best Champagne vintages under the Dom Pérignon brand. The house marketed the first vintage, that of 1921, in 1936. Since then, 46 other vintages have been produced.

THE HOUSE OF LOUIS ROEDERER

The history of Louis Roederer

Louis Roederer inherited the Champagne House in 1833 and decided he wanted to master every stage of wine creation. He bought some Grand Cru vineyards, which was a bit unusual as other Champagne Houses bought their grapes. Louis Roederer was convinced the combination of soil, passion for tradition and vision made a Champagne truly great.

In 1870 they began to export their champagne to the United States and even Russia. Up until today, this Maison is an independent, family-owned company. The house and Louis Roederer’s vision are in the good hands of the seventh generation, led by Frédéric Rouzaud.  

The making of Louis Roederer champagne

The Champagne House owns 240 hectares with 410 parcels in three classic Champagne districts: the Montagne de Reims, the Vallée de la Marne, and the Côte des Blancs. Only one-third of the grapes are bought from long-term contract growers. They use Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes in their champagne. The house is also the largest biodynamic estate in the Champagne region.

The grapes are collected in buckets and pressed in Louis Roederer’s own press-houses. Afterwards, the musts are stored in small stainless steel tanks or oak vats for fermentation. This way the character of each plot is being preserved up to the blending stage.

During winter they taste the wines and decide which ones they will use immediately and which ones are to put aside for future Brut Premier champagne.    

The house produces seven champagne: the multi-vintages Brut Premier and Carte Blanche, the vintages Vintage, Rosé Vintage and Blanc de Blanc Vintage and the Cuvée de Prestige champagne Cristal and Cristal Rosé.    

A closer look at Louis Roederer Cristal

The first Louis Roederer Cristal was created in 1876 to satisfy Tsar Alexander II, who asked the house to reserve the best cuvée for him every year. The champagne was called Cristal because the bottle was made of transparent lead-crystal glass with a flat bottom.

Louis Roederer Cristal is made of 40% Chardonnay and 60% Pinot Noir grapes. It is aged in the cellars of the house for 6 years and left there for a further eight months after disgorgement. This Champagne can be conserved for over twenty years and will still taste fresh and balanced.

The best Champagne vintages of the 21st century

Because of the long ageing that vintage Champagne typically undergoes, it’s still too early to properly assess the vintages of more recent times, but as far as Robert Parker’s conclusions go, the 2014, 2013 and, notably, the 2012 have all proved excellent. The 2008 is arguably the standout so far since the turn of the century however, with Parker awarding it 99 points. Its success was something of a surprise to all, since the year opened with widespread mildew meaning expectations were low. The 2000 and 2002 have also been very well received.

On the other end of the spectrum, the 2001 is generally best avoided – the year’s enormous and already diluted harvest was finished off by last minute rains. The 2003, 2005 and 2007, plus the 2010 and 2011 are also regarded as being comparatively lackluster. The 2004 and 2009, meanwhile, produced decent offerings.

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