Louis Roederer Collection 242 NV (1.5L)

97 DE / 95 JM / 94 JS / 94 WE / 93+ WA / 92 VM / 92 WS / 92 VP / 17 JR

Decanter Wines of the Year 2021
#76 Wine Spectator Top 100 2021
Vinepair Best Champagnes of 2021

Softly shimmering straw gold, green tints, with a delicate filigree dancing at will around the glass. The nose is gently authoritative; spring flowers garlanding stone fruit, a hint of hawthorn maybe, then lemongrass. The palate has encyclopaedic depth, the intricacies of the Perpetual Reserve weaving their early magic; almond, sloe, gingerbread and apples; the finish has a pleasing twist of bitterness, courtesy the small percentage of oak-aged reserve wine. Maybe the dosage can come down even further, such is the engaging and subtle complexity harnessed elsewhere? Wines of the Year 2021: the top Classic wines. - Simon Field MW, Decanter

5 star wine. In magnum format. When first released, magnums were similar in quality and structure to the original bottle release. Yet this is champagne and a wine that loves the larger format. As expected, the magnum is beginning to pull ahead (with its extra finesse, complexity, and retention of freshness). Aromas of mouth-watering orchard fruits lead the way, with that spicey complexity and zingy orange-zest minerality coating the palate on the finish. After showing some fatness in 2022, the palate has shed its buttery apparel and revealed incisive linearity. Candied aromas are building on the palate. Precise, balanced with lovely weight. Statistics: 40% Chardonnay, 18% Meunier, and 42% Pinot Noir. 56% 2017 vintage, 34% Perpetual Reserve (2012-2016), and 10% Reserve wines (2009-2016, aged in oak). Disgorged in summer 2021 with a dosage of 8g/l. Drink from 2024-2034. Tasted: January 2024. - Steven Prichard for Jasper Morris' Inside Burgundy

Aromas of cooked apple, bread dough and lemon tart follow through to a full body with round, delicious fruit and a rich, flavorful finish. Yet, it remains tight and fine with lovely, compressed bubbles. New energy and freshness. Medium-to full-bodied with layers of fruit and vivid intensity. 42% chardonnay, 36% pinot noir and 22% pinot meunier. 8 grams dosage. Four years on the less. A new-format non-vintage that designates the year of the 242nd harvest, 2017, plus reserve wine of 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. Drink or hold. - James Suckling

This is the first in a new series of nonvintage Champagnes that replaces the producer's well-known Brut Premier. Based around the 2017 vintage and blended with wines from six other years, the wine is dry while also having a rich, toasty character alongside mineral, white fruit and spice flavors. Drink now.--Roger Voss, Wine Enthusiast

So much for the composition and concept of the new NV Brut Collection 242, but how does it taste? This debut release is very impressive indeed, wafting from the glass with notes of pear, peach, ripe citrus fruit, toasted almonds, fresh pastry and white flowers. Medium to full-bodied, pillowy and textural, it's concentrated and layered, with lively acids, an enlivening pinpoint mousse and a long, sapid finish. Brut Premier was already a very persuasive wine, but the new Brut Collection nevertheless represents a step up. - William Kelley, Wine Advocate

The NV Collection 242 is a new wine from Roederer that replaces the Brut Premier in the range. The Collection (which now will be numbered by harvest) is a blend of three components: a perpetual reserve done in the classic non-malo Roederer style, reserve wines in oak with a touch of malo, and a base vintage, in this case 2017. That blend results in a NV Champagne that offers lovely richness and resonance, with plenty of yellow orchard fruit and floral character. Whereas Brut Premier was typically a focused, nervy wine that, while consistently excellent, also was not always in line with the Roederer house style, the 242 tastes more like a Roederer Champagne in terms of its complexity. Incidentally, there is no Vintage, Cristal or Cristal Rosé in 2017, so all the best lots went into this bottling. Dosage is 8 grams per liter, so lower than the 9 or so that was typical for recent Brut Premier and much lower than the 12-13 that was once customary. The 242 was also bottled with a bit less sugar than the norm, which results in lower atmospheres of pressure in the bottle and silkier texture.

Brut Premier was created in the late 1970s and 1980s, when we struggled to ripen,” Chef de Caves Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon explained. “It was our way of compensating for lack of ripeness in the field and the variability of quality across vintages. Because of climate change, achieving ripeness is not an issue today. Instead, our challenge is maintaining freshness and precision. For that reason, we decided to re-think our NV and start from a place of positive rather than negative selection. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

Savory on the nose with a good grip on the palate, this bottling impressed our panel with its delicate perlage, which makes for a very satisfying mouthfeel. This is not a fruity Champagne, but rather a refined, acid-driven wine that offers a great value for the price. A bright, harmonious Champagne, layering well-cut acidity and a chalky underpinning with flavors of white cherry, crunchy pineapple, green almond and beeswax. The finely detailed mousse carries hints of saffron and spring blossom on the lingering finish. Drink now through 2024. 19,537 cases imported. - Wine Spectator

Grippy and savory, this is not a very fruit-forward bubbly. The texture rules this wine, with tight bubbles and a lower stratosphere of saltiness below the effervescence. It's a great wine for some serious fromage. - Vinepair

Deep straw colour and tiny, tiny bead. Really satisfying, complete, beautifully balanced nose with some evolution and richness. A little bit of toastiness and it tastes pretty ripe. Very different indeed from a Brut Zéro champagne! Firm. Some tasters may object to the dosage. But it's a beautiful wine. - Jancis Robinson