Price: $32.99
Sale Price: $25.97
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There’s something almost alchemical about Champagne, how the elaborate secondary fermentation of the méthode traditionnelle manages to transmute a dry and unremarkable, underripe still wine into one of the world’s most well-regarded and sought after. It’s a process that’s easy enough to imitate, but one difficult to satisfactorily duplicate. One could opt to deal with rising Champagne prices by opting for less expensive bottlings by growers’ cooperatives (e.g. Nicolas Feuillatte), but arguably the better option both dollar- and quality-wise (their most recent NV bottling got 94 points from James Suckling) would be one of the few sparkling wine producers in California worth their salt, Roederer Estate. As the name implies, the wine is estate bottled on their property in the Anderson Valley, a region little known for winegrowing until Louis Roederer established his winery there after extensively scouting California for an area with weather as bleak as in his home in Champagne (remember, alchemical processes require strange reagents). The result is a wine that could easily hold its own against a $60 or $70 Champagne, fresh, floral and creamy, with classic notes of apples, pears, lemon peel and brioche followed by a touch of earthy complexity (15% of the blend is an oak-aged reserve wine). To quote Wine Spectator: “The Roederer Estate Brut Anderson Valley is a perennial best buy in the category, offering quality, distinction and value year after year.”
