The actual product may vary from the images shown on the website.
Putojantis sausas
This champagne has bright yellow-goldish color. An intriguingly perfumed nose evokes poached pear, orange zest, sweet butter and honey, along with a smoky quality and a chalky mineral overtone. Chewy, very deep citrus and orchard fruit flavors are complicated by suggestions of toasted brioche, white truffle and candied fig. Finishes very long and smoky, with resonating floral and mineral qualities. This is a powerful but integrated wine that exemplifies the Rodez style.
Serve at 6-8 °C with seafood and fish.
Aukso spalva su oranžiniu atspalviu. Stipriai kvepia svarainiais, skrebučiu, vanile, riešutais ir raudonais vaisiais. Intensyvus, neagresyvaus putojimo burnoje. Svarainių, ąžuolo statinių prieskonių poskonis.
Barrel-fermented from 70% Pinot and 30% Chardonnay with malo blocked, the multi-vintage Rodez NV Brut Cuvee des Grand Vintages delivers the layered mystery that I seek in the best Ambonnay wines, beginning with a nose of gentian and violet; ocean breeze, and crustacean shell reduction; not to mention intimations of the white peach, apple, grapefruit and pineapple that go on to constitute the luscious, tart-edged fruit matrix on this wine’s polished palate. There is both a shimmering mineral expression and a salivary gland-tugging saline savor in the long finish. Look for this to impress at table for at least another 2-3 years. (The bottle I tasted was disgorged in autumn of last year, as expressed by its lot number.)
Eric Rodez has been producing champagne in the eighth generation since 1984. Before taking up his work as a recolte manipulant, he gained experience in Burgundy and as cellar master at Krug, where he was responsible for the Grand Cuvée. During this time, the foundation was laid for what particularly distinguishes his champagnes today: he has mastered the complex assemblage technique like hardly anyone else. Until the end of 2018, he was also mayor of Ambonnay for more than ten years and is committed to his region as a whole by trying to promote quality in viticulture in the Champagne region. For some time now, he has been supported by his son Mikhael, who is responsible for the vineyards. Mikhael was also the one who urged Eric to vinify single vineyards. This required some persuasion, as nothing is blended here; it was unusual for Eric not to intervene. Nevertheless, these champagnes also turned out to be a great success: Masterpieces and filigree and finesse. In 1989, he began the conversion to a biodynamic winery and has been certified since 2017. He regularly goes into a rage when we ask him about the harvest quantity. He shows us vines in neighbouring vineyards that bend to the ground under the weight of countless grapes: "Every year we harvest ever larger yields and thus endanger the quality of the product, on whose reputation we all depend!" says Eric. As mentioned earlier, Eric is a master in the cellar: infected by his time at Krug, he is almost obsessive about the ageing of individual parcels: from 35 parcels he vinifies 60 different base wines, some in tank, most in used wood (he is convinced that wood adds complexity and complexity to Champagne), some with malolactic fermentation, others without. The aim is to develop an assemblage that is more complex than its ingredients. Once a year, he works on his composition in this way, "every year a whole new symphony is created!" enthuses Eric, who likes to compare his creative process to that of a musician and composer. Eric's champagnes are characterised by a distinct vinosity paired with multi-layered complexity, finesse and elegance.
