Louis Roederer is one of the largest vineyard owners in Champagne, with an estate that spans 242 hectares and 410 plots across the Montagne de Reims, the Vallée de la Marne and the Côte des Blancs. Throughout its history, the family-owned Champagne house has been careful to preserve its exceptional heritage, creating with its terroir “a deep bond founded upon respect and intimacy”.
In March 2021, half of Louis Roederer’s vineyards will be officially certified as organic. This will mark the completion of the first stage of what has been a 20 year journey towards greener viticulture, a process it has called “renaissance viticulture”, in all of its vineyards.
A total of 115 hectares spread across the three main regions of champagne will be certified organic as of next spring, which means all of Louis Roederer’s wines produced from those plots can bear the ‘AB’ symbol (“agriculture biologique”) on their labels from 2021 onwards. The certification process of those 115ha officially began in 2018, though is the result of more than two decades of experimenting with organic and biodynamic winemaking practices under the supervision of cellar master Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon.
Some of the practices it has implemented include massal selection, gentle pruning, daily care and practices that respect the living environment. To allow the land to regenerate, Roederer lets some of it’s vineyards lie fallow for long periods and utilises biodynamic composts and eco-friendly practices inspired by the permaculture model in which the ecosystem self-regulates.
Louis Roederer has long been considered a pioneer in the field of organic and biodynamic winemaking and the estate is now operating entirely under organic and biodynamic practices, with the certification process for the rest of its property still underway.
Last year, it released Louis Roederer Cristal 2012, which was the first vintage of its flagship prestige cuvée to be produced entirely from biodynamically-grown grapes (though not yet certified as such at the time).
“It is the belief, deeply grounded in my family for generations, that we owe everything to Nature and that when we listen to her and provide her with the attention and care she needs, she will give us the gift of a terroir at its finest expression, the source of great fine wines. Achieving organic certification for the historic Louis Roederer vineyards is a source of great pride and joy to us. It is also a formidable encouragement to us all to continue this demanding yet rewarding artisanal winemaking approach,” said Frédéric Rouzaud, CEO of Louis Roederer.
