Eric Rodez

History of Champagne Eric Rodez

The Rodez family has cultivated the vine in Ambonnay since 1757, the year in which Jean-Baptiste founded a lineage subsequently passed down through Marie-Louis in 1786, Louis in 1819, Eugène in 1850, Camille in 1877, Pol in 1905 and then Jean in 1931. For a long time, the Rodez family sold their grapes to the great houses, each generation adding a few plots to the family heritage and, one day, a press. The vineyard was thus built up step by step, as a mosaic, on the finest hillsides of the village.

Eric Rodez, eighth generation, took the reins of the estate in 1984. Before that, he spent three years in Burgundy, Beaujolais and the Rhône Valley, then joined the house of Krug as an oenologist. From this dual training came his conviction: champagne is composed like a score, from a great many base wines blended with the exacting precision of a goldsmith. The estate began its conversion to organic farming and biodynamics in 2009, obtained organic certification in 2010, and in 2012 became the first French agricultural holding to be certified Haute Valeur Environnementale. Today, his son Mickaël, ninth generation, carries on the work in the vineyard and continues this pursuit of precision.

Terroirs and Vineyards of Champagne Eric Rodez

Ambonnay is classified at one hundred percent on the cru scale, a status reserved for the greatest villages of Champagne. Nestled on the south-eastern slope of the Montagne de Reims, the cru benefits from well-exposed hillsides and a chalk subsoil that ensures perfect drainage and endows the wines with a characteristically saline minerality. Eric Rodez likes to say that this terroir is a Stradivarius, an exceptional instrument of which the winemaker is merely the interpreter.

The estate covers approximately six hectares spread across thirty-five distinct plots, planted with Pinot Noir, slightly in the majority, and Chardonnay. The average age of the vines is around forty years, and certain single-vineyard sites such as Les Beurys, Les Fournettes, Les Genettes, La Pierre aux Larrons, Les Bouités, Les Grandes Ruelles, Les Cheminots, Les Secs and Les Agusons have a sufficiently distinct identity to be vinified and bottled separately. The soils are ploughed, yields are limited by rigorous pruning, and no chemical fertilisers, herbicides or insecticides are used. Since 2006, Eric Rodez has used essential oils in his treatments, a knowledge inherited from his grandmother and now one of the estate's singular characteristics.

Vinifications of Champagne Eric Rodez

Each year, around sixty base wines are vinified separately, plot by plot and grape variety by grape variety. True to a house credo, Eric Rodez crafts seventy to eighty percent of his wines in French oak barrels and large casks, with the remainder fermenting in stainless steel or enamelled tanks. The wood is never sought for its aromatic oakiness, but for the breathing of the wine, its texture and length. Malolactic fermentation is blocked selectively, partially or entirely depending on the cuvée, in order to preserve malic acidity — a guarantee of freshness and longevity in the cellar.

Blending is the heart of the craft as conceived by this disciple of the Krug school: a dozen to fifteen wines from four to six different vintages make up the multi-vintage cuvées, with a proportion of reserve wines that can reach seventy percent, drawn from a perpetual reserve spanning five to ten years. The lees ageing extends from thirty-six to forty-two months for the standard range and frequently exceeds ninety-six months for the single-vineyard wines, followed by several months of post-disgorgement rest. Dosages are light and carried out with rectified concentrated must rather than sugar, without fining or filtration for the single-vineyard cuvées.

The cuvées of Champagne Eric Rodez

Cuvée des Crayères Grand Cru: the house's calling card, a blend of approximately 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay assembled from around a dozen wines spanning four to five vintages, with a high proportion of reserve wines. Upright, rounded and generous, it offers ripe fruit, a creamy texture and a chalky finish. Thirty-six to forty-two months on the lees.

Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru: one hundred percent Chardonnay from Ambonnay, a terroir that here plays a register of great generosity rather than austere restraint. Around fifteen wines from five to six vintages, the large majority vinified in wood and nearly half without malolactic fermentation. Candied citrus, white flowers, fresh almond and persistent saline tension.

Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru: one hundred percent Pinot Noir, an expression of power and persistence in its distinctive black bottle. The great majority of the wines do not undergo malolactic fermentation, which preserves a vibrant brilliance in what is nonetheless ample material. Ripe red fruits, gentle spices, floral fragrance and silky texture.

Brut Rosé Grand Cru: approximately 75% Pinot Noir and 25% Chardonnay, born of the marriage of maceration cuvées for fullness and Chardonnay for elegance. Nearly 80% of the wines are crafted in wood, with a large proportion of reserve wine. Redcurrant, cherry, orange zest, a gastronomic structure and a fresh finish.

Dosage Zéro Grand Cru: a blend of approximately 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay, complemented by reserve wines, with 80% of the musts fermented in French oak large casks. With no dosage liqueur whatsoever, the wine presents itself bare, on chalk, zest and a frank salinity, for lovers of taut, sincere champagnes.

Cuvée des Grands Vintages Grand Cru: the prestige cuvée, crafted solely from the finest selections of the estate's best vintages, approximately 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay, vinified entirely in wood and without malolactic fermentation. Ample, elegant and of unparalleled richness, it rests for a minimum of sixty months on the lees.

Millésime Brut Grand Cru: the expression of a single year, blending Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the selected harvest, with 80% of the musts fermented in large oak casks. Ageing frequently exceeds ninety-six months on the lees, yielding a complex, patinated champagne with notes of dried fruits, toasted bread and forest floor.

Empreinte de Terroir Blanche: one hundred percent Chardonnay from the Noyers Saint Pys, Les Secs, Les Champsaults and Les Agusons plots, planted for approximately forty-five years. Full fermentation in large oak casks, without malolactic fermentation, fining or filtration, a minimum of one hundred and twenty months on the lees and a dosage of 2 g/l. A vertical, mineral reading of Chardonnay from Ambonnay.

Empreinte de Terroir Noire: the Pinot Noir counterpart to the above, born from the La Pierre aux Larrons, Le Moulin, Les Fournettes and Les Secs plots. The same exacting protocol, the same ageing of more than ten years on the lees and the same minimal dosage, for a champagne of remarkable density, combining dark fruits, spices and chalky depth.

Les Beurys Grand Cru: a single-vineyard Pinot Noir from vines over thirty-five years old, vinified in French oak large casks, without malolactic fermentation, fining or filtration. After a minimum of eighty-four months on the lees and a dosage of 3 g/l, it combines blackberry, black cherry, flowers and pastry in a palate that is both supple and transparent.

Les Beurys Macération Grand Cru: a maceration rosé crafted from the same plot, with the skins remaining in the must for thirty-six to forty-eight hours prior to fermentation. Vinified in large oak casks and aged at length on the lees, it unfolds an aromatic profile of fresh red fruits, a fine tannic structure and an uncommon saline length.

Les Fournettes Grand Cru: one hundred percent Pinot Noir from vines over thirty-five years old, on one of the sunniest single-vineyard sites in Ambonnay. Aged in large oak casks, no malolactic fermentation, a minimum of ninety-six months on the lees and a dosage of 3 g/l. A fleshy, vinous champagne with a peppery, deeply mineral finish.

Les Genettes Grand Cru: a single-vineyard site produced in both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay depending on the vintage, allowing for a fascinating comparison of the two grape varieties on the same soil. Entirely vinified in wood, without malolactic fermentation or filtration, with a very long stay on the lees. An elegant, floral wine with a marked chalky tension.

La Pierre aux Larrons Grand Cru: one hundred percent Chardonnay from a plot planted over forty years ago, whose name evokes a wasteland stone dating back to the Gallo-Roman era. Fermentation entirely in small oak barrels, no malolactic fermentation, no industrial cold stabilisation and no filtration. A chiselled, saline expression of remarkable length.

La Loge en Macération Grand Cru: a confidential maceration rosé from a single-vineyard site in Ambonnay, crafted according to the same principle as Les Beurys Macération but on a different soil. Deep colour, a nose of crushed raspberry and spices, a vinous and textured palate tailored for the table rather than the aperitif.

Coteaux Champenois Les Bouités rouge: a still red wine from Ambonnay, from the Les Bouités single vineyard, produced in very small quantities and only in favourable vintages. A wood-aged Pinot Noir of precise fruit, fine tannins and northern freshness, it illustrates the Burgundian kinship of the chalky terroir of the Montagne de Reims.

Ratafia Champenois: a traditional mistelle from the region, obtained by muting fresh grape must from the estate with marc brandy from Champagne, then aged for several years. Notes of candied fruits, walnut, honey and spices, in a luscious register that pairs equally well with foie gras and dried-fruit desserts.