2015 Eric Rodez Extra Brut Grand Cru Les Genettes Pinot Noir

Eric Rodez is a 15-acre Champagne estate in Ambonnay. It is a family owned producer that is today run by Eric Rodez, who has turned the estate into an organic enterprise. Eric Rodez himself is immersed in the culture and community of Champagne, and he has served as the mayor of Ambonnay. Ambonnay is one of the most renowned villages in Champagne since it is one of only 17 Grand Cru Villages, meaning villages where all vineyards are considered Grand Cru. The Rodez family has been making Champagne in Ambonnay since the 18th century. Rodez vineyards are planted to 55% Pinot Noir and 45% Chardonnay.

Champagne is a small, beautiful wine growing region northeast of Paris whose famous name is misused a million times a day. As wine enthusiasts and all French people are well aware, only sparkling wines produced in Champagne from grapes grown in Champagne can be called Champagne. Sparkling wines produced anywhere else, including in other parts of France, must be called something besides Champagne. Champagne producers are justifiably protective of their wines and the prestige associated with true Champagne. Though the region was growing grapes and making wines in ancient times, it began specializing in sparkling wine in the 17th century, when a Benedictine monk named Dom Pierre Pérignon formulated a set guidelines to improve the quality of the local sparkling wines. Despite legends to the contrary, Dom Pérignon did not “invent” sparkling wine, but his rules about aggressive pruning, small yields and multiple pressings of the grapes were widely adopted, and by the 18th and 19th centuries Champagne had become the wine of choice in fashionable courts and palaces throughout Europe. Today there are 75,000 acres of vineyards in Champagne growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. Champagne’s official appellation system classifies villages as Grand Cru or Premier Cru, though there are also many excellent Champagnes that simply carry the regional appellation. Along with well-known international Champagne houses there are numerous so-called “producer Champagnes,” meaning wines made by families who, usually for several or more generations, have worked their own vineyards and produced Champagne only from their own grapes.