Creating the Magic

Creating the Magic
© Shutterstock

Creating the Magic of Champagne

Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon is the inspired cellar master of Champagne Louis Roederer and the man behind Cristal - one of the most thrilling prestige cuvées ever created.

Champagne is famous for its bubbles. All over the world, Champagne is synonymous with friendship, success, celebration and love. It brings joy and lightness in our lives.

It is an opportunity and honor for me to craft Champagne and we must thank all our predecessors for their hard work over centuries, too often in extremely difficult conditions. What a model of resilience Champagne is!

Today our duty is to remember and explain to the new generation of producers and consumers that Champagne is first of all a fine wine. As such, it is the result of skilled craftsmanship allied to quality raw materials.

In pursuit of taste

Because a great Champagne finds its unique taste, identity, and aging potential in the grapes it is made from, it is important to understand that the pursuit of taste starts in the vineyards and requires passionate, aesthetic and sometimes very difficult work. 

There, the combination of slope, altitude, exposure, soil, grape variety, climate – if done with passion, skill and long-term perspective – will give birth to unique taste. As does the clever choice of exceptional soils; the never-ending process of identification and domestication of the most interesting massal selections of old local Vitis vinifera types; the permanent attention to detail in farming; sometimes the courage to question the most common rules under the scrutiny of innovation. This will create the magic by producing the most effortlessly balanced and flavoured grapes.

In this new (old) stewardship of the land, the 21st century Champagne winemaker must use all their scientific knowledge, experience and craftsmanship to capture and reveal the most subtle perfumes of different sites. It is the purity of fruit, the ultimate finesse of the taste, that will make our Champagne even more unique.

Duty and Ambition

At Louis Roederer, a family-owned house for seven generations with large vineyard holdings, we believe it is our duty, our role, to make the most delicious and unique Champagnes. It is our way to pay tribute to Champagne's history and contribute to the future of this amazing terroir . By converting our vineyards to organic farming, reintroducing some biodynamic practices; developing our unique collection of old massal vinifera selections; adapting our winemaking to the needs of the grapes (and not following a recipe), we want to make our Champagnes more unique, intense, expressive and true to our place.

This ambition requires not only the total commitment of the owner family but a fantastic empowerment of the team that is, every day, in easy and in difficult vintages, making it happen!

Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon
© Photo provided
Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon
Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon
Discover more
Find out more