NV Eric Rodez Blanc de Noirs
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Tasting notes
The bright copper/straw-colored NV Champagne Blanc De Noirs 35 Brut is a blend of 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015. It’s medium-bodied but full-flavored, with a profound richness and oily texture. IT does have some suppleness, but the electric energy that moves through the wine gives it lift and energy, and it gradually reveals a whole other savory and mineral depth and persistence, lingering on the palate with pithy citrus, raw almond, red and black fruit, and brothy salinity. While it has the impression of volume, the mousse fills with a fine and rounded feel that frames the wine. Drink 2025-2045. The Rodez family first set down roots in Champagne in 1757, and while they have not always been winemakers, they have always respected the land and the vines. They bottle roughly 55,000 bottles every year.
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Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Certified organic (Ecocert, since 2012), biodynamic (Demeter, since 2015). Wines fermented in small oak barrels. Partial malo. Disgorged April 2023. Pears and vanilla on the nose of this golden wine. A canon of richness and power. Infrangible. To write about the praline and hazelnuts, the baked pears and smoked saffron, the yuzu and hot-candle-wax-on-lemon-peel flavours of this wine is to reduce its xeric colonnades to fragments that do not, cannot, even begin to encapsulate the whole. It's defiant. It comes with it's own force field. (TC)
The nose of the NV Champagne Blanc de Noirs Brut is generous with ripe black cherry, dried rosemary, shitake mushroom, and chalk. The plate is concentrated without weight and has a rounded and balanced mousse, with ripe berries, raspberry liqueur, and a chalky mineral texture with fine grained structure. It has an elegance within its structure that is quite compelling. A fantastic gastronomic wine, to carry through an entire meal or have on its own, drink it over the next 10-15 years. Based in the Grand Cru village of Ambonnay, Eric Rodez and his son Mickaël lead this Pinot Noir-focused estate today and mark the eighth and ninth generations, respectively, in their family of winegrowers. Biodiversity is highly prioritized at this estate. They have been certified organic since 2012 through HVE (High Environmental Value) and have had biodynamic certification since 2015 through the Demeter organization. Eric attributes his farming practices and especially soil management to his time spent in Alsace. He also worked at Krug from 1978 through 1984.
Disgorged in April 2020 with four grams per liter dosage, the latest release of Rodez' NV Brut Blanc de Noirs is already quite expressive, offering up aromas of mirabelle plum, raspberries, toasted almonds, honeycomb and white flowers. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and gourmand, with ripe but racy acids and an enveloping core of fruit that's complemented by a pillowy mousse, it's extroverted but precise. What's more, it will be even better with a year or two on cork.