Wine of the week: Roederer, NV Anderson Valley Brut Sparkling Wine

Arnaud Weyrich said Roederer Estate offers “affordable luxury.”

Weyrich is behind our budget-savvy sparkler of the week winner — the Roederer, NV Brut Sparkling Wine, Anderson Valley, at $30. Elegant, it has yeast, hazelnut aromas and pear notes on the palate. Layered and complex, with a nice mousse, it’s impressive.

What’s surprising is that there are at least five vintages of wine used in the Roederer Estate non-vintage blend. Some of the oldest wine in the bottle is seven years old.

“We carefully craft all our wines and use some reserve wines aged in large oak casks in all of the Roederer Estate bottlings,” Weyrich said. “The non-vintage brut is a blend of 60% chardonnay and 40% pinot noir, aged on average 30 months on the yeasts before disgorging.”

When harvesting the grapes for sparklers, the most challenging part is perfecting the pick.

“Harvesting grapes for sparkling wine is a very narrow window to keep the acid and avoid over ripeness,” Weyrich said. “Some years this amounts to sending a rocket to the Moon and puts a lot of stress on the team to pick everything within the time frame.”

Fine-tuning the house style also is a complicated endeavor, the winemaker said.

“Sparkling wine is a fun wine to share, but it’s built as a serious wine that can withstand food pairing, too,” Weyrich said. “(It’s) refreshing and layered, textured but not overwhelming and delicate and enjoyable in many occasions.”

Born and raised in France, Weyrich, 53, went to college there at Ecole Supérieure Agronomique de Montpellier. He graduated with a master’s degree in vineyard management and enology. The winemaker said one of his college professors piqued his interest in wine.

“Denis Boubals, a viticulture professor, was a figure larger than life,” Weyrich said. “He was extremely knowledgeable and made us want to discover and travel the wine world.”

Today Weyrich’s title at Anderson Valley’s Roederer Estate is winemaker and senior vice president of production. He initially worked as an intern from 1993 to 1995, then came back to work at the winery in 2000, replacing his predecessor Michel Salgues in 2003. That makes Weyrich the second winemaker since Champagne Louis Roederer founded Roederer Estate in 1982.

The first Roederer Estate MV (multi-vintage) sparkler debuted in 1988, and the vintage cuvee called L’Ermitage was introduced in 1993 with the 1989 vintage. The winery farms 620 acres of estate vineyards and produces 100,000 cases of sparkling wine of a brut and a brut rosé MV, as well as a vintage cuvee L’Ermitage Brut and brut rosé.

Sparklers groomed from Anderson Valley fruit, Weyrich said, show well.

“The Anderson Valley is a cool-climate American Viticultural Area where pinot noir shines by keeping its bright acidity while developing delicate aromas and texture,” he said.

What people find most surprising about the winning sparkler, Weyrich said, is that “it’s so good and so affordable.”

You can reach wine writer Peg Melnik at peg.melnik@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5310.