Eric Rodez

The History of Champagne Eric Rodez

The Rodez family has grown grapes in Ambonnay since 1757, when Jean-Baptiste began a line continued by Marie-Louis in 1786, Louis in 1819, Eugène in 1850, Camille in 1877, Pol in 1905 and Jean in 1931. For many years, the Rodez family sold their grapes to the major houses. Each generation added a few plots to the family holdings and, eventually, a press. The vineyard was thus built step by step, as a mosaic across the village’s finest slopes.

Eric Rodez, the 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 enologist. That dual training shaped his conviction: champagne is composed like a musical score, from numerous base wines blended with a goldsmith’s precision. The estate began converting to organic and biodynamic farming in 2009, obtained organic certification in 2010, and in 2012 became the first French agricultural operation certified High Environmental Value. Today, his son Mickaël, the ninth generation, continues the work in the vineyard and the pursuit of precision.

Terroirs and Vines of Champagne Eric Rodez

Ambonnay is rated 100% on the cru scale, a status reserved for Champagne’s finest villages. Set on the southeastern slope of the Montagne de Reims, this cru benefits from well-exposed hillsides and chalk subsoil that provides excellent drainage and gives the wines their characteristic saline minerality. Eric Rodez likes to say that this terroir is a Stradivarius: an exceptional instrument that the winemaker merely plays.

The estate covers approximately six hectares across thirty-five separate plots, planted with Pinot Noir, which has a slight majority, and Chardonnay. The vines average around forty years of age, and some named sites, including Les Beurys, Les Fournettes, Les Genettes, La Pierre aux Larrons, Les Bouités, Les Grandes Ruelles, Les Cheminots, Les Secs and Les Agusons, have identities distinctive enough to be vinified and bottled separately. The soils are plowed, yields are limited through rigorous pruning, and no chemical fertilizers, herbicides or insecticides are used. Since 2006, Eric Rodez has used essential oils in his vineyard treatments, drawing on knowledge passed down by his grandmother that has become one of the estate’s distinguishing practices.

Winemaking at Champagne Eric Rodez

Each year, around sixty base wines are vinified separately, plot by plot and grape variety by grape variety. True to the house’s guiding principle, Eric Rodez makes seventy to eighty percent of his wines in French oak barrels and large casks; the rest ferment in stainless steel or enamel-lined tanks. The aim of the oak is never an oaky flavor, but to let the wine breathe and develop texture and length. Malolactic fermentation is selectively prevented, in part or entirely depending on the cuvée, to preserve malic acidity, a source of freshness and longevity in the cellar.

Blending is at the heart of the craft as this disciple of the Krug school sees it: around twelve to fifteen wines from four to six different vintages make up the multi-vintage cuvées. Reserve wines can account for as much as seventy percent, drawn from a perpetual reserve spanning five to ten years. Aging on the lees in bottle runs from thirty-six to forty-two months for the core range and often exceeds ninety-six months for the single-plot wines, followed by several months of rest after disgorgement. Dosage is light and uses rectified concentrated grape must rather than sugar; the named-site cuvées undergo neither fining nor filtration.

The Cuvées of Champagne Eric Rodez

Cuvée des Crayères Grand Cru: the estate’s calling card, a blend of approximately 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay drawn from a dozen or so wines spanning four to five vintages, with a high proportion of reserve wines. Focused, round 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: 100% Ambonnay Chardonnay, from a terroir that shows great generosity here rather than austerity. Approximately fifteen wines from five to six vintages, the large majority vinified in oak and nearly half without malolactic fermentation. Candied citrus, white flowers, fresh almond and persistent saline tension.

Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru: 100% Pinot Noir, an expression of power and persistence in its unmistakable black bottle. The vast majority of the wines do not undergo malolactic fermentation, preserving vibrant brightness in an otherwise full-bodied wine. Ripe red fruit, sweet spice, floral aromas and a silky texture.

Brut Rosé Grand Cru: approximately 75% Pinot Noir and 25% Chardonnay, blending macerated cuvées for fullness with Chardonnay for elegance. Nearly 80% of the wines are made in oak, with a substantial proportion of reserve wine. Red currant, cherry and orange peel, with a food-friendly structure and fresh finish.

Dosage Zéro Grand Cru: a blend of approximately 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay, supplemented with reserve wines, with 80% of the must fermented in French oak casks. With no dosage liqueur, the wine reveals itself unadorned, with chalk, zest and pronounced salinity, for lovers of taut, forthright champagnes.

Cuvée des Grands Vintages Grand Cru: the prestige cuvée, made only from the finest press fractions of the estate’s best vintages, approximately 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay, vinified entirely in oak without malolactic fermentation. Full-bodied, elegant and exceptionally rich, it spends at least sixty months on the lees.

Millésime Brut Grand Cru: an expression of a single year, blending Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the selected harvest, with 80% of the must fermented in large oak casks. Aging frequently exceeds ninety-six months on the lees, yielding a complex, mellowed champagne with notes of dried fruit, toast and forest floor.

Empreinte de Terroir Blanche: 100% Chardonnay from the Noyers Saint Pys, Les Secs, Les Champsaults and Les Agusons plots, planted approximately forty-five years ago. Fermented entirely in large oak casks, without malolactic fermentation, fining or filtration, with at least one hundred and twenty months on the lees and a dosage of 2 g/l. A focused, mineral expression of Ambonnay Chardonnay.

Empreinte de Terroir Noire: the Pinot Noir counterpart to the preceding cuvée, sourced from the La Pierre aux Larrons, Le Moulin, Les Fournettes and Les Secs plots. The same exacting approach, more than ten years of aging on the lees and minimal dosage yield a champagne of remarkable depth, with dark fruit, spice and chalky depth.

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

Les Beurys Macération Grand Cru: a macerated rosé made from the same plot, with the skins left in the must for thirty-six to forty-eight hours before fermentation. Vinified in large oak casks and aged for an extended period on the lees, it reveals fresh red-fruit aromas, a fine tannic structure and uncommon saline length.

Les Fournettes Grand Cru: 100% Pinot Noir from vines more than thirty-five years old, on one of Ambonnay’s sunniest named sites. Aged in large oak casks, with no malolactic fermentation, at least 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 named site expressed as either Pinot Noir or Chardonnay depending on the vintage, offering a fascinating comparison of the two varieties on the same soil. Vinified entirely in oak, without malolactic fermentation or filtration, and aged for a very long time on the lees. A graceful, floral wine with pronounced chalky tension.

La Pierre aux Larrons Grand Cru: 100% Chardonnay from a plot planted more than forty years ago, whose name evokes a stone on uncultivated land dating back to Gallo-Roman times. Fermented entirely in small oak barrels, with no malolactic fermentation, industrial cold stabilization or filtration. A finely etched, saline expression with great length.

La Loge en Macération Grand Cru: a rarely produced macerated rosé from an Ambonnay named site, made according to the same principle as Les Beurys Macération but on different soil. Deep color, aromas of crushed raspberry and spice, and a vinous, textured palate suited to the dinner table rather than the aperitif hour.

Coteaux Champenois Les Bouités red: a still red wine from Ambonnay’s Les Bouités named site, produced in very small quantities and only in favorable vintages. Aged in oak, this Pinot Noir has precise fruit, fine tannins and cool-climate freshness, illustrating the kinship between Burgundy and the chalky terroir of the Montagne de Reims.

Ratafia Champenois: a traditional regional fortified wine made by adding Champagne grape marc spirit to fresh grape must from the estate, then aging it for several years. Notes of candied fruit, walnuts, honey and spice in a luscious style that pairs equally well with foie gras and dried-fruit desserts.