Louis Roederer is a well-regarded Champagne house based in the city of Reims and best-known for its flagship wine: Cristal. The house, established in the late 18th Century, is still family-owned, and produces a house style with equal amounts of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, around one-fifth Pinot Meunier. Although founded in 1776, the house in its current guise began in 1833, when Louis Roederer took the reins from his uncle and renamed the business for himself. Roederer set out to capture foreign markets, and most famously that of Russia; Roederer became the wine of choice for the Russian royal family. Cristal – now one of the region's top prestige cuvees along with the likes of Dom Perignon (Moët), Belle epoque (Perrier-Jouet), Comtes de Champagne (Taittinger) or Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill (Pol Roger) – was created for the notoriously paranoid Tsar Alexander II of Russia, who requested the bottle be clear and flat-bottomed to prevent hidden explosives. Louis Roederer acquired several grand cru vineyards in Champagne in 1845 to add to his portfolio. This was unusual for the time as the majority of houses were buying grapes from growers rather than cultivating their own. Today, the Roederer vineyards encompass around 240 hectares (600 acres) of land in the Montagne de Reims, Vallee de la Marne and the Cote des Blancs. By 2012, around 25 percent of the vineyards were managed biodynamically (the 2012 Cristal is made from biodynamically farmed grapes). Cristal is produced in standard and rose formats (although the latter is rarer). The standard vintage Cristal wine is produced from some of the house's best vineyard plots and is composed of around 60 percent Pinot Noir and 40 percent Chardonnay. Portions of the blend can also see some time in barrel. Cristal rose is produced from similar proportions of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay although the Pinot Noir is left on skins for an extended period prior to pressing. Around 20 percent of the wine is also aged in large format oak, giving the resulting wine a light rose color combined with hints of onion skin. Cristal wines are also released under the Vinotheque label – a combination of late disgorging/extended lees aging and further time in the Louis Roederer cellars in bottle. The Roederer portfolio also includes non-vintage and vintage brut, rose and blanc de blancs wines. More recently, there has been collaboration between the house and French designer Phillippe Starck to create a Champagne Brut Nature. The house signature tends to be based around the Pinot grapes (Noir and Meunier). Roederer also produces the red and white still wines under the Hommage à Camille labels (often simply referred to as "Camille"), made under the Coteaux Champenois appellation. The red is a Pinot Noir from the Charmont vineyard in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ while the white – a Chardonnay – is made from grapes grown in the Volibarts vineyard in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger.
