Louis Roederer Collection 242

When Chef de Cave Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon restructured Roederer's non-vintage program, he renamed it Collection to signal a deliberate shift: each release carries a batch number (242 denotes the blend number in the house's continuous series), making disgorgement date and blend identity traceable — a transparency almost unheard of at this production scale. The fruit draws on 50+ villages across Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne, and Côte des Blancs, with Verzenay and Verzy Pinot Noir rooted in 20 cm of clay-loam topsoil over pure chalk bedrock — that shallow chalk profile driving the taut mineral tension that defines the house signature. Each of the 410+ parcels is vinified separately in small stainless-steel tanks or oak vats before blending; ~20% reserve wines aged in 150+ used oak barrels are incorporated to build complexity and consistency across harvests. The blend runs ~40% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Meunier, with a portion of the base wine retaining its natural acidity through blocked malolactic fermentation. Minimum 3 years on lees plus 6 months post-disgorgement precede release at ~9 g/L dosage. What separates Collection 242 from comparable NV Champagnes is the combination of parcel-level vinification and multi-year oak-aged reserves — a grower-house methodology applied to a 4+ million bottle program. Drink now through 2028.