Wine Advocate 92
 
Barrel-fermented from 70% Pinot and 30% Chardonnay with malo blocked, the multi-vintage Rodez NV Brut Cuvee des Grand Vintages L0912 delivers the layered mystery that I seek in the best Ambonnay wines, beginning with a nose of gentian and violet; ocean breeze, and crustacean shell reduction; not to mention intimations of the white peach, apple, grapefruit and pineapple that go on to constitute the luscious, tart-edged fruit matrix on this wine’s polished palate. There is both a shimmering mineral expression and a salivary gland-tugging saline savor in the long finish. Look for this to impress at table for at least another 2-3 years. (The bottle I tasted was disgorged in autumn of last year, as expressed by its lot number.)
 
Eric Rodez is another in the rapidly growing band of environmentally-conscious champenois practitioners of biodynamic viticulture. His 15 acres are all in Ambonnay, but morsellated into some three dozen parcels that result in nearly twice that number of micro-vinifications, presenting blending puzzles for which his time spent working at Krug no doubt helped prepare him. Disgorgement dates for the upper-tier of non-vintage Rodez wines, incidentally, are expressed in miniscule print on their labels as lot numbers, so that is how I have also expressed them for purposes of our database.