Louis Roederer Champagne Tasting with Special Guest Jean Remi Barbier

"Champagne, if you are seeking the truth, is better than a lie detector. It encourages a man to be expansive, even reckless, while lie detectors are only a challenge to tell lies successfully." Graham Greene

Champagne is my favorite wine and our biggest tasting of the year coming up in a few weeks on Saturday, November 21st.  Although the annual Champagne tasting is almost here we have dozens of champagne tastings throughout the year when our friends are in town from Champagne.

We will be partying like a rock star on Wednesday November 11 when our friends from Louis Roederer Champagne tasting will be here featuring the largest array of their top cuvee Cristal that we have ever put on the table including two of the newly released Vinotheque versions of this tete de Cuvee disgorged after 15 years in the cellar and out of magnum format. 

Join us as we welcome Jean Remi Barbier to the wine bar for a special evening of Louis Roederer Champagne including eight different versions of Cristal and Cristal rose.  The fee for this tasting which includes dinner and gratuity is $795 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

Louis Roederer Champagne Tasting

with Special Guest Jean Remi Barbier

Wednesday, November 11, 2026

7:30 PM

Nv Champagne Louis Roederer Collection 246 Magnum

2019 Louis Roederer Blanc De Blancs Brut Champagne

1997 Louis Roederer Cristal Vinothèque Brut Champagne Magnum

2002 Louis Roederer Cristal Vinothèque Rose Brut Champagne Magnum

2008 Louis Roederer Cristal Brut Champagne Magnum

2013 Louis Roederer Cristal Rose Brut Champagne

2013 Louis Roederer Cristal Brut Champagne

2014 Louis Roederer Cristal Brut Champagne

2016 Louis Roederer Cristal Brut Champagne

2018 Louis Roederer Cristal Brut Champagne

2018 Louis Roederer Brut Rose Champagne

Menu

Shoestring Fries with Gremolata

Ceasar Salad with Bacon Fried Polenta Croutons and Crispy Prosciutto

Duck Trap Salmon with Italian Sturgeon Caviar served on top Potato Pancake

Aussie A-5 Waygu Filet Sashimi Served with Champagne Rice and Hoisin Reduction

Strawberry Shortcake

The fee for this tasting which includes dinner and gratuity is $795 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.  Please let us know when you make your reservations if you have any dietary restrictions or aversions and chefs Toni and Dani will be happy to accommodate you. 

A bit about Louis Roederer Champagne

Very little is known about the early days of the Louis Roederer Champagne House apart from the fact that the firm was founded in 1765 by a Monsieur Dubois and that it was owned and managed by a Monsieur Schrieder in the early 1800's.  In 1827 Schrieder asked his young eighteen year old nephew, Louis Roederer, to help him run the firm.  Schrieder was extremely impressed by the young man's ability; and when Schrieder, who had no sons, died in 1833, he left the business to Louis.  Louis Roederer wasted no time in giving the House his own name; he then set about to make the rather inconsequential firm of Louis Roederer a powerful name in Champagne.  The markets on which he concentrated were Russia, the United States, and Great Britain.  The Tsars and the aristocracy of Russia had an unquenchable thirst for Champagne, and up until the 1830's that country was the exclusive preserve of Veuve Clicquot, Moët, and Dom Ruinart.  By 1836 the Tsar himself was drinking Louis Roederer Champagne and sending his wine steward to Reims to taste the annual cuvées.  Shortly thereafter, the monarch's wine steward began to complain that there was nothing to distinguish the Louis Roederer Champagne served at the Tsar's table from the Louis Roederer Champagne consumed by his subjects.  Louis Roederer immediately arranged for special "Cristal" bottles to be made.  Although they were the same shape as the ordinary bottles, they were so strong that the punt (the "push-up" in the bottom of the bottle) could be eliminated - a feature particularly appreciated by the Tsars, for they always feared that terrorists could plant a bomb in the punt of a Champagne bottle.  The "Cristal" bottle became the exclusive Champagne of the Russian Court and the first of the great deluxe Champagnes such as Dom Pérignon etc. that are now produced in limited quantities by almost every Champagne House.  When Louis Roederer died in 1870, he had fulfilled the ambitions of his youth.  He was famous in Russia; his Champagne firm had grown from an annual production of 100,000 to two and half million bottles; and he was the third or fourth largest supplier of Champagne to the United States.

The fortunes of the House of Roederer took a disastrous downturn at the end of the Russian Revolution.  At the time of the outbreak of the First World War, almost three quarters of Roederer's production was being shipped to Russia.  The war and the ensuing Russian Revolution meant that little Champagne was going to Russia, and it nearly bankrupted the firm.  When the Revolution concluded, the communists, who were eager to destroy every last vestige of Tsarist influence and culture, declared that Champagne was too "bourgeois". Because of this new political attitude and because of the close link with the former Tsar, the importation of Louis Roederer Champagne to Russia ceased.  A catastrophe of this magnitude would probably have destroyed most businesses, but fortunately there was an appreciative and eager market in the United States, England, and Belgium.

During the thirties and forties, the firm was run by the colorful and determined Roederer widow, Madame Camille Orly-Roederer, who expanded the firm's holdings and reestablished Roederer's position as a powerful Champagne House.  She earned great respect from the male Champagne magnates for her business acumen and was the talk of the world social scene, as she was known to strut into gala parties larger than life and "dressed to the nines" in fabulous diamonds and Dior gowns...and order Roederer Champagne for everybody in the house!  It is interesting to note that the "new Tsars" of Russia may not consider Louis Roederer Champagne as bourgeois as Lenin once did.  When Brezhnev visited President Nixon in Washington in 1972, he wired ahead and requested that several well-chilled bottles of "Cristal" be placed in his stateroom prior to his arrival!!  We are sure that the new capitalist leaders of Russia will soon be toasting their successes once again with Roederer.

Today Louis Roederer supplies over 80% of its production from its own vineyards which are classified at an average rating of 95%. (All Champagne vineyards are quality rated from 80% to 100% by a special committee; very few vineyard areas get the top 100% (Grand Cru) rating.)  This is an enviable position to occupy, for most of the major Champagne firms have to purchase more than half their grape needs from independent growers and therefore do not exercise as much control over the growing process - an extremely important aspect.  The house style at Roederer - best exemplified by their superb non-vintage known as "Brut Premier" - is notably smooth, full-bodied, and mature.  Roederer also produces a non-vintage Rosé, a vintage Brut, an extra-dry, and of course the renowned luxury cuvée, "Cristal", and its fabulously expensive sibling "Cristal" Rosé.