In his words: Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon

The Louis Roederer Chef de Cave on how Pinot Noir is changing...and how he's changing with it.

I sat down in Reims with Louis Roederer Chef de Cave Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon and Master of Wine student and ex-Roederer cellar intern Tina Xie. The subject? An upcoming Decanter article on Coteaux Champenois, the still wines of Champagne. Lécaillon, unsurprisingly, is in deep to this topic. And when Jean-Baptiste is in deep, you set the recorder going….

Lécaillon broke the mould for cellar masters in Champagne with his direct involvement in Roederer’s vineyards through the 2000s, leading to today’s remarkable Cristal ‘estate’, 115 hectares of certified organic vineyard spread over 45 parcels. As one of Champagne’s most lucid storytellers, he has an unusual knack for communicating about vineyard management and winemaking in a tactile, accessible way.

Our discussion touched on how Pinot Noir is changing in Champagne, what this means for blending, on how it behaves in heat and heatwaves, phenolics and ripeness, viticultural adaptations….there’s a sense of where Roederer are now, and where they are headed, too. It gets a little technical, but I’ve provided some context where things stray into phenolics and canopies and pHs…

Look out in Decanter Premium over the next few weeks for reviews of Roederer wines including Cristal 2016, the new “Late Release’ Rosé vintages and the Roederer Coteaux Champenois.