Louis Roederer’s take on the particularly ripe, early 2018 harvest in Champagne.
Champagne specialist Tim Hall interviewed Louis Roederer’s chef de cave Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon in Reims, where he had just returned from collecting multiple awards on behalf of the house at the Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships in London. These included Supreme World Champion for Roederer’s Brut Premier NV in magnum, which was also named Best French Sparkling Wine, while Cristal 2002 was Best De Luxe Champagne.
The 2018 Champagne harvest began on 21 August, almost the earliest ever, although in 2011 picking started two days earlier. In late...