Named ‘Hommage à Camille’, Louis Roederer said its new collection of still wines constitutes ‘a different expression of Champagne terroirs’.
Roederer announced the two new single-vineyard wines under the Coteaux Champenois appellation this week.
They are:
- Camille Charmont 2018, a 100% Pinot Noir from the Charmont lieu-dit in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ;
- Camille Volibarts 2018, a 100% Chardonnay from ‘historic’ vines in the Volibarts lieu-dit in Le Mesnil-Sur-Oger.
In the UK, the Charmont was expected to retail for around £130-a-bottle and the Volibarts £155, via high-end retailers, said a spokesperson for Maisons Marques & Domaines, the UK importer established by Roederer in 1986.
Producing still wines in Champagne is a concept that Roederer’s winemaking team has been experimenting with for several years.
Louis Roederer’s new ‘Camille’ Coteaux Champenois wines. Photo credit: Louis Roederer / Emmanuel Allaire.
‘This collection of single-vineyard wines is the result of a long process of observation and experimentation,’ said Roederer this week.
It said the ‘Camille’ name is a tribute to Camille Olry-Roederer. She took over the house following the death of her husband, Léon Olry-Roederer, in 1932 and was in charge up until 1975.
She is credited with modernising the Champagne house during a period of significant change in the 20th century. Her great-grandson, Frédéric Rouzaud, is at the helm today.
Coteaux Champenois as an appellation was born in 1974, but the still wines of Champagne were known under different guises prior to that.
They also have a long history, as Steven Spurrier noted in an article for Decanter in covering new Coteaux Champenois wines from Charles Heidsieck.
Spurrier wrote, ‘Before the monks Dom Ruinart and Dom Pérignon realised the potential of capturing bubbles in bottles – thanks to advances in glass technology and with the relatively new medium of cork as a stopper – the wines were originally still.’
Updated 19th February 2021 with extra info on anticipated prices.
