If you're looking for a Champagne that's both elegant and refreshingly modern, Louis Roederer’s Collection 245 is a great pick. Built on the outstanding 2020 harvest, it blends vibrant fruit, fine bubbles, and just the right touch of complexity—perfect for a celebration or a quiet evening in.

Jamessuckling.com | JS 93
Published: Jul 18, 2024

Restrained green apple, lemon bush and lime, plus light brioche and chalk. Medium to full body with fine, nicely persistent bubbles and good substance on the mid-palate. Almost biting yet polished at the end, with long, refreshing acidity. Lacks a bit of complexity at the moment, but fresh. Best from 2025.

The Wine Advocate | RP 92
Published: Apr 10, 2025
Drink: 2025-2033

Based on the 2020 vintage, Louis Roederer’s NV Brut Collection 245 is stylistically somewhat comparable to the two previous editions, which were based on the 2018 and 2019 vintages. Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon explains that the personality of the wine will change depending on the base year. By identifying the wine with a number, they do not intend to produce the same profile year in and year out, but rather, they will embrace the singularity of each vintage, accepting the different personalities of the base year. It is complemented by a perpetual reserve initiated in 2012, which is stored in large tanks without lees; the reserve provides balance to the warm years like this, as the perpetual component did not go through malolactic fermentation. While a considerable portion of the fruit comes from Louis Roederer's own estates, for this bottling, the blend incorporates purchased fruit as well, particularly Pinot Meunier, which they do not own. Including approximately 43% Chardonnay, the new Brut Collection offers notes of pear, peach and candied orange zest. On the palate, it is medium to full-bodied, textural and fleshy, laden with vibrant acidity and concluding with a nicely defined, delicately saline finish, even with 7.5 grams per liter dosage.

This report covers the recent and forthcoming releases from Louis Roederer, tasted with Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon in Reims earlier this year. Among these is the new Collection 245—a refined introduction to the house's evolving style, it's a reimagined cuvée that has replaced their Brut Premier. The focus of this wine has now shifted to highlighting the base vintage rather than producing a consistently uniform style year after year. Other featured wines include the latest Blanc de Blancs, Brut Vintage and Brut Vintage Rosé and various vintages of Cristal and Cristal Rosé. Among these is an embarrassment of riches from which to select, such as the precise and incisive 2016 Cristal, as well as the extraordinarily pure 2013 Cristal and 2013 Cristal Rosé. Both 2013 releases are now available in magnums (spoiler: they are even more complete than the standard-size bottles, combining intensity with a graceful texture). The Coteaux Champenois continues its upward trajectory, and the 2022 vintage, shaped by a warm and dry growing season, is well worth seeking out as well.

It is difficult to pinpoint what is most impressive about Cristal—the fact that these Champagnes are crafted from meticulously farmed vineyards or that they are produced in volumes that proves high quality is not exclusive to small growers but can also be achieved on a larger scale. Cristal and Cristal Rosé, based on organically certified farming since 2012, continue to deliver outstanding performances, maintaining their reputation as two of the finest cuvées in the Grande Marque category.

While I generally favor a lower dosage—since it can occasionally assert itself on the finish, particularly as the wine warms—Lecaillon emphasizes that this very dosage is what will sustain these Champagnes far into the future. Notably, the dosage has been reduced in recent years, and contemporary vintages exhibit greater clarity than ever before.

Under the stewardship of Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon, who oversees both winemaking and viticulture, Roederer has embarked on what could be described as a viticultural renaissance, which for Roederer means pursuing massal selection, harvesting fully ripened fruit, planting fruit trees and encouraging biodiversity in and around their vineyards, all with the goal of leaving the land in better condition than when they found it. Of Roederer’s 242 hectares, which supply most of their needs, an impressive 50% is now certified organic and is also managed following biodynamic practices. The only cuvée that includes some purchased fruit is the NV Collection. It's worth noting, however, that Cristal Rosé is sourced from only four lieux-dits, while Cristal is informed by approximately 45 plots. The story of each wine is told in greater detail in the accompanying tasting notes.

Louis-roederer.com

"Our thought process began more than 10 years ago. The facts were undeniable: climate change had been affecting the Champagne region over the past 30 years and we saw this as an opportunity to harvest extra mature grapes at the end of earlier harvests."
— Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, Cellar Master

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Responding to the times in which we live, along with sustainable and respectful winegrowing practices that accentuate the qualities of the terroir, have become central to our ethos and our work. Anticipating future vintages and adapting to current conditions are challenges we face every day, so we must continue to push ourselves in our quest for excellence in our blends. We must be bold and make the most of our freedom to act.

These new balances determine the evolution of our wines in terms of their distinctive character and taste characteristics, whilst widening the range of possibilities. Thus, the idea of Collection was born..

2020: AN OUTSTANDING HARVEST
With each new harvest, the thought process continues and becomes more uninhibited, to express the character of the year in a new creation, to craft a very fine multi-vintage champagne for gastronomy, endowed with a remarkable capacity for cellar ageing.

Louis Roederer's 245th blend takes advantage of a particularly remarkable 2020 harvest: a dry, continental year of perfect maturity that produced juicy, well-structured, aromatic grapes, resulting in dense, full-bodied wines with a perfect balance of substance and freshness. Collection 245 therefore offers us a complex symphony in a wine of remarkably generous and flavourful intensity.

ROOTED IN THE "HEART OF THE TERROIR"
True to its roots, the Champagne House wanted to reflect its historical origins in the blend: 1/3 from our “la Rivière” Estate, 1/3 from our “la Montagne” Estate and 1/3 from our “la Côte” Estate. All the plots of vines used for the creation of Collection, both those owned by Louis Roederer and those belonging to its longstanding partners, have therefore been re-evaluated in order to retain only those that are best suited to the Collection identity, rooted in the heart of the Champagne terroir.

This quest for the Champagne region’s most “expressionist” terroirs results in a multitude of different origins, lieux-dits, exposures, lands with strong identities and predominantly limestone soils, all of which have the ability to evolve over a long period of time. This approach not only allows Louis Roederer to better respond to climate change while gaining resilience and complexity but also guarantees the freshness of its wines and the continuity of the Louis Roederer style.

THE ART OF BLENDING
Made up of 55% of the 2020 harvest, Collection 245 is an ode to taste and drinking pleasure. Each year, the Cellar Master composes a new symphony, inspired by the tonalities of the year and then adds the wines from the Perpetual Reserve and the oak-aged reserve wines.

The Perpetual Reserve makes up 35% of the Collection 245 blend providing balance and freshness. In parallel with the Perpetual Reserve, a significant proportion of wines from previous years and young plots on the Cristal estate, aged in French oak foudres, are added to the blend. These Reserve wines are Louis Roederer's signature and make up 10% of the Collection 245 blend.

THE SINGULARITY OF COLLECTION 245
Aged for nearly 4 years in our cellars, Collection 245 is a complex champagne that has reached great plenitude. Perfect with gastronomy, this champagne is endowed with obvious cellar-ageing potential. The maturity and balance of the vintage year, the freshness of the Perpetual Reserve and the complexity of the oak-aged Reserve wines result in an impressive density of fruit, releasing complex flavours of citrus and yellow fruit; pure, intense notes nuanced by a hint of smoke.