Roederer Estate L'Ermitage 2003
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Fine tiny bubbles and a long lasting mousse are the usual footprints of the L'Ermitage cuvée. This cuvée is showing greatnotes of "tarte tatin": baked apples and buttery crust, with notes of apricot and delicate vanilla bean. The mouthfeel iscreamy, expresses flavors of quince and bread crust, with a clean and crisp yet long finish.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
2003 was a great vintage for Roederer Estate. This, their top vintage wine, is very great, and the price is an absolute steal for this world class sparkler. It’s enormously rich in the strawberries from Pinot Noir and the limes from Chardonnay, while the toast and rich lees combine for a perfect champagne-style smokiness. And so smooth, it's like a kiss of silk. At the age of eight years, this wonderful wine is just getting started.
Editors' Choice -
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: Amazing fresh, the 2003 L'Ermitage is an excellent example of why this wine is "grand marque." This wine was remarkable in its youth and is even better as it has aged. TASTING NOTES: This wine is showing very fine. Its bright fruit and lively palate are balanced by its long, crisp and beautifully complex elegance. Pair its refined zestiness with lightly grilled petrale sole. (Tasted: April 4, 2018, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine & Spirits
This wine captures the cool tones of Anderson Valley fruit in a sophisticated sparkler, the marriage of pinot noir and chardonnay flavors transformed into lemon curd, white raspberry, bright apple and lasting spice. the tight balance keeps it fresh, while reserve wines add to its richness (the blend includes four percent of reserves from 1999). There’s nerve underneath the luscious texture, extending the sense of richness into finesse.
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Wine Spectator
Elegant and sleek, yet complex, with cinnamon and green apple aromas that lead to rich flavors of pear and lemon custard layered with brioche and mineral. Drink now through 2015. 5,251 cases made.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Made with about 11 grams per liter dosage and disgorged in February of 2011, the 2003 L'Ermitage Brut takes time to open from the glass and has mature aromas of iodine, coffee grounds, toast and candle smoke with a core of crushed apples. The palate offers smoky, toasty flavors with creamy mousse and a lingering, minerally finish. Winemaker Arnaud Weyrich says 2003 was the first time grapes in Champagne were harvested ahead of those in Anderson Valley—it was warmer in Champagne that year than in Anderson Valley.
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Founded in 1982, Roederer Estate is nestled in Mendocino County’s fog-shrouded, Anderson Valley. As the California property of Champagne Louis Roederer, Roederer Estate builds upon a centuries-old tradition of fine winemaking. Roederer's unique winemaking style is based on two elements: complete ownership of its vineyards and the addition of oak-aged reserve wines to each year's blend or cuvee to create complex, dry and harmonious sparkling wines.
The crisp, fresh and rich flavors of Roederer Estate sparkling wines reflect the cool Anderson Valley that is home to their family-owned estate's 600 acres of vineyards. This protected valley in Northern California provides the ideal ripening conditions for their 100% estate-grown Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. The blending team is comprised of the winemakers from the California property as well as from Champagne Louis Roederer, ensuring that Roederer Estate remains the most French of the California sparklers.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
Reaching up California's coastline and into its valleys north of San Francisco, the North Coast AVA includes six counties: Marin, Solano, Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake. While Napa and Sonoma enjoy most of the glory, the rest produce no shortage of quality wines in an intriguing and diverse range of styles.
Climbing up the state's rugged coastline, the chilly Marin County, just above the City and most of Sonoma County, as well as Mendocino County on the far north end of the North Coast successfully grow cool-climate varieties like Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and in some spots, Riesling. Inland Lake County, on the other hand, is considerably warmer, and Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc produce some impressive wines with affordable price tags.