Théophile Brut is made from 1/3 Pinot Noir, 1/3 Chardonnay and 1/3 Pinot Meunier. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay come from Louis Roderer’s younger vines (8-10 years), while some Pinot Meunier grapes are bought from regular suppliers in the Vallée de la Marne and west of the Montagne de Reims. The blend consists of four different vintages and after a partial malolactic fermentation, the wine is fermented in the bottle for min. two years. After disgorging, the wine remains in the cellar for a further 6 months. The wine is added approx. 30% Reserve wines from older vintages, something like e.g. gives it a distinctive and personal character. Although it is the freshness and delicate notes that are emphasized in Théophile, it also has a good creamy and bold character, with shades of lime blossom, hawthorn blossom and peach. The wine has a classic character of freshly baked rye bread, which makes it perfect for gastronomy too. It would be perfect as an aperitif, but its good structure and body make it also suitable for poultry, fish and shellfish.
The Théophile Roederer champagne house (founded 1864) was originally an independent winery in Reims, owned by a branch of the Roederer family. The company had its own cellars and fields in the area and has, among other things, contributed with a few quite unique posters, which today are classics in the Art Nouveau style. The house’s Champagne Théophile (‘Théo’ among connoisseurs) gained huge fame in 1930s Montparnasse in Paris, where it was a must for artists and other night owls in the neighborhood’s many cafés and cabarets. In the hometown of Reims, the company later became very famous for having hidden many persecuted people in its cellars during the German occupation. After the war, the company was bought by the second branch of the Roederer family, Champagne Louis Roederer. However, Théophile continues to be produced in the style that originally made this champagne famous. It is not a ‘second brand’ but an independent line, which today consists of the versions Brut and Brut Rosé.
Champagne is probably France’s (and the world’s) most famous wine region, at an appropriate distance to Flanders, England and… Paris, which have always been good buyers of wines from Champagne. Historically, many myths surround both the invention of Champagne and its production.
Geographically, the area is far up in Northern France, approx. 150 km. northeast of Paris and spreads over the departments of Marne (4/5 of the area) and Aube as well as a few fields in the Aisne, Seine-et-Marne and Haute-Marne. The quality varies greatly from area to area and from vintage to vintage, as the subsoil – especially i.a. its content of lime – means a lot, and so do the rather fluctuating climatic conditions (rain, frost…). The craftsmanship is also, as always, decisive for the quality.
