Brut Nature is the embodiment of this changing Champagne region, reflecting the shifting landscape in its unrestrained style and understated design. A veritable incubator of innovation, Brut Nature benefits all the Louis Roederer champagnes as it helps to anticipate and adapt to these changes. Roederer cellar master Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon explains, "Brut Nature is the showcase of our most innovative experiments of the last 20 years. It is a 'laboratory of climate change' that has allowed us to rediscover certain traditional and sometimes forgotten skills, such as knowing how to bring out the best in the original champagne grape varieties."

This Champagne is composed of 64% Pinot Noir, 16% Chardonnay and a touch of Pinot Blanc with 20% of the wine vinified in oak. There is a subtle salmon hue to this refined Champagne with delicate captivating aromas of wild strawberry and crushed red currants. While a bit fuller on the nose, the wine is well structured with a fleshy core and more salinity than the Blanc. There is weightless precision as it warms up and welcomes air revealing orange zest, toasted spices and dried herbs. It has a mouthwatering freshness and tension added by an underpinning of chalk that persists long into the finish.

By Peter Pretzer / W Peter Hoyne