Champagne Louis Roederer gets new look

Louis Roederer has introduced new labels and gift boxes designed to strengthen the visual connection between the brand’s standard range and its prestige cuvée, Cristal.

Louis Roederer’s new look

Using luxury designer Philippe di Méo, who created a limited edition Jeroboam for Cristal 2002 last year, Louis Roederer has added distinctive gift boxes for its Brut Premier, Rosé, Vintage, Blanc de Blancs and Carte Blanche (pictured, below right).

The house has also redesigned the label and capsule of these same Champagnes (pictured, left) in a bid to make the brand’s seal more prominent on the bottle and label, in line with Cristal, which has always made a strong feature of the Louis Roederer seal in its packaging design.

The new look also sees Louis Roederer introduce a subtle change to its logo, and a specific block colour for each cuvée, which has been chosen to mirror the wine’s characteristics.

Meanwhile, the look of Cristal, which has undergone subtle winemaking improvements since the 1996, has remained the same.

Commenting on the design changes, Roederer’s executive vice president Michel Janneau said, “Louis Roederer combines respect for traditional values with an ongoing commitment to quality improvement through cutting-edge technology. We wanted to express more than that, building on certain key aspects of established packaging but presented in a purer, simpler and more elegant style.”

Continuing, he added, “We feel the new look of the brand does justice to our brand architecture, whilst staying in tune with modern tastes.”

The maison has also introduced a “deluxe” packaging range for “prestige retailers”, which comprises monochrome boxes made of textured premium mat paper and high quality card, featuring the style and vintage embossed in gold, with the revised logo as a centre piece (pictured, bottom).

Roederer’s new gift boxes designed by Philippe di Méo

The Louis Roederer website has also recently undergone a redesign to present the brand’s history and technical details in a new and interactive manner.

Di Méo, whose previous projects include the design for Château Mouton Rothschild 2000, as well as recent collaborations with Champagne houses De Venoge and Dom Pérignon, encased Cristal’s distinctive clear glass bottle in a lattice of 24-carat gold for a special release of the prestige cuvée’s 2002 vintage.

Last month, as first reported by the drinks business, Louis Roederer’s joint MD and head winemaker Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon said he would release a new expression of Cristal which sees the Champagne undergo extended ageing both before and after disgorgement.

Roederer’s new “deluxe” Brut Premier gift box

Noting that around 5% of Cristal’s production in any single vintage is placed in Roederer’s vinotèque for extended ageing, he said that a planned launch of a Cristal from the 1995 harvest in 2015, or possibly 2016, would mark the first time an older wine has been released commercially.