Roederer completes organic certification of half its estate

Half of Louis Roederer’s vineyards will be officially certified as organic next spring, completing the first stage of what has been a 20 year road towards greener viticulture at the Champagne house.

A total of 115 hectares (out of 242) of vineyards across the growing areas of the Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne and Côte des Blancs will be officially certified organic as of March 2021, meaning all of its wines produced from those plots can bear the ‘AB’ symbol on their labels from that year onwards.

The house’s conversion to organic has been a long one, beginning 20 years ago under the supervision of cellar master Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon.

Although the house only officially began the certification process for those 115ha in 2018, for the past two decades it had practiced what it called ‘renaissance viticulture’ across its vineyard holdings, which included leaving land to lie fallow for long periods to help it regenerate, and which was helped along with biodynamic composts and eco-friendly practices inspired by permaculture models.

The estate is now operating entirely under organic and biodynamic practices, with the certification process for the rest of its property still underway.

Last year it released its 2012 Cristal, which was the first vintage of its flagship cuvée to be produced entirely from biodynamically-grown grapes (though not yet certified as such at the time).

Roederer’s CEO, Frédéric Rouzaud, said: “It is the belief, deeply grounded in my family for generations, that we owe everything to Nature and that when we listen to her and provide her with the attention and care she needs, she will give us the gift of a terroir at its finest expression, the source of great fine wines.

“Achieving organic certification for the historic Louis Roederer vineyards is a source of great pride and joy to us. It is also a formidable encouragement to us all to continue this demanding yet rewarding artisanal winemaking approach.”