Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Vinous
The 1998 Brut L'Ermitage is an absolute delight. It's also one of the very best Roederer Estate wines of the 1990s. It offers terrific freshness for a wine of its age and has enough body to continue on for another handful of years, maybe more. Dried orchard fruit, crushed flowers and chamomile are some of the nuances that emerge over time. The 1998 is one of a few vintages that underwent partial malolactic fermentation. It is quite a revelation, especially for a year that was not highly regarded at the outset because of unusually wet and cool conditions.
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.