In the first issue of Le Dosage, I wrote about the bottle that first pulled me into Champagne.
This week’s thought moves a little deeper into the region itself.
Many Champagnes contain wines from years you cannot see on the label.
Opening Thought
“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite.”
William Blake
Champagne is one of the few wines that asks you to perceive more than a single harvest.
A harvest happens once. Memory accumulates.
The great Champagne houses learned long ago that earlier wines could be preserved and folded into future blends. Over time, those wines become part of the structure of what we drink today.
You are not tasting a single moment.
You are tasting continuity.
A Thought on Memory
Wine is often described through flavor, but the deeper pull is memory.
A note of citrus or chalk might remind you of a place. The warmth of pastry might recall a meal. A certain tension in the glass might bring back a bottle shared years earlier.
Taste collapses time like that.
Champagne makes this especially clear.
Its balance of acid, fruit, and age unfolds slowly, revealing layers assembled across years rather than a single season.
The Quiet Detail
The number on Louis Roederer’s Collection releases is not a vintage.
Collection 245 simply means the 245th blend created by the house since its founding in 1776.
At the center of the wine sits something even more interesting. Roederer maintains a Perpetual Reserve, begun in 2012 and enriched each year with wines from the newest harvest.
Over time it becomes a living archive of past vintages folded quietly into each new release.
Bottle of the Week
Louis Roederer Collection 245
Louis Roederer created the Collection series to rethink how a house Champagne evolves over time.
Instead of repeating a fixed formula, each release begins with a recent harvest and builds depth with wines from earlier vintages held in reserve.
Collection 245 is built primarily on the 2020 harvest, with additional structure coming from Roederer’s Perpetual Reserve.
Structure
Blend
• about 41% Chardonnay
• about 35% Pinot Noir
• about 24% Meunier
Dosage
• about 7 g/L
Base vintage
• 2020 with wines from the Perpetual Reserve begun in 2012
Collection 245 sits in a sweet spot between precision and generosity. It shows how a large house can maintain freshness while building depth through reserve wines.
What to Notice in the Glass
• lemon peel and green apple
• a hint of ginger, warmth from the reserve wines rather than the fruit
• almond and light pastry
• a saline lift on the finish, almost as if the bubbles themselves carry the chalk
Fruit, acidity, and texture move together without any element dominating.
It is the kind of Champagne that rewards attention without demanding it.
Where to find it
• Costco — $50
• Total Wine — $50
• K&L Wine Merchants — $60
Prices vary, but the bottle tends to sit in a sweet spot where house Champagne begins to show real depth.
With the next Collection release starting to appear in shops, some retailers are pricing this one particularly well right now.
A Short Detour
Epicurus wrote something that feels unexpectedly relevant to wine.
“Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.”
The idea was not luxury.
It was attention.
A glass of Champagne does not need a celebration to justify itself. Sometimes the pleasure lies simply in noticing what is there.
What I’m Curious About Next
Next week I plan to look at the other side of Champagne.
Grower producers who farm their own vineyards and shape the wine themselves.
One bottle in particular has been on my mind: Savart L’Ouverture.
A Small Dose
“Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
Dylan Thomas
Until the next bottle,
Manj
If you enjoy this, I also share short Champagne reels on Instagram:
@le_dosage