Mendocino Wineries Roederer Estate
The French Champagne House Offers Tastings of Sparkling Brut Wine
California wines beat French wines in a 1976 blind tasting, and the makers of Cristal champagne opened their estate in Mendocino County in 1981 making sparkling wines
The Roederer family from the Champagne region of France has a long and distinguished wine-making history. Their French winery was founded in 1776, the same year that marked the birth of the United States of America. One hundred years later in 1876 it produced a special champagne for Tsar Alexander II of Russia, and called it Cristal. It was notable for being sold in a crystal-clear bottle, allegedly because the Tsar was afraid of possible assassins hiding weapons in the more usual dark green champagne bottles.
It was another 100 years later, in 1976, when a remarkable blind tasting of wines took place in Paris to celebrate the bicentennial of American independence. A panel of top wine experts, all French, chose Napa Valley wines in preference to some of the best French labels, including Chateau Mouton-Rothschild. Wineries that were barely known outside California were producing better wines than the top Bordeaux and Burgundy vineyards that had been established for centuries.
The Roederer family took note (it is one of the few independent champagne houses that is still family-owned) and came to look for the ideal growing conditions in California for the chardonnay and pinot noir grapes that go into the top champagnes. By 1981 they had located a 580-acre property in the Anderson Valley in Mendocino Country which they thought offered ideal conditions. The Roederer Estate in California was born.
Only champagne made in the Champagne region of France is permitted to call itself champagne, so here in Mendocino the Roederer Estate produces sparkling wine made using the traditional champagne-making methods – the methode champenoise. The wine may be made in traditional French style, but the Roederer Estate looks nothing like a traditional French chateau. It has a rustic redwood look, blending into the hillside and overlooking terraces of vines.
Inside it is much more Gallic, with old French prints on the walls, French tiles underfoot and a long French zinc bar where the tastings can take place, although there's a French-style bistro with tables too.
Although the Estate was established here in 1981, it was seven years before the first sparkling wine was released, the typical period for vines to establish themselves, produce fruit, and for the wine-making process to take place. It is a hefty investment in money, time and the labor of tending the vines. The first Roederer release was a Brut CV, a straight blend of the chardonnay and pinot noir grapes. Later wines were able to incorporate some of the early wine which had been held back and aged in oak casks, till it was ready for blending with the pinot-chardonnay mix.
The Roederer Estate focuses on just four types of wine, all sparkling whites or roses, and these can be sampled in the Tasting Room which is open every day from 11am to 5pm, except for major holidays. There is a small fee for the wine tasting. Tours of the Estate are by advance arrangement only.
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4501 Highway 128, Philo
Tel: (707) 895 2288
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To read about the Frey Vineyards organic winery in Mendocino County, click here.
To read about the Goldeneye pinot noir winery, click here.
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