Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon – Chef de Cave – Louis Roederer

Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon (1966 vintage), was born and raised in Reims, Champagne, and graduated from Montpellier’s Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique, after which he joined Roederer in August 1989.

Lécaillon is the Executive Vice-President and Winemaker at Roederer – a post he has occupied since 1999.

With diplomas in oenology and agronomy, Lécaillon takes the house from strength to strength in terms of wine making and biodynamic viticulture. With experience making wine on four continents, it comes as no surprise that he heads the production of Roederer’s affiliated brands, including Roederer Estate in California, Ramos Pinto in the Douro in Portugal, Domaines Ott in Provence, and a healthy collection of Châteaux in Bordeaux; Château de Pez, Château Haut-Beauséjour (Saint-Estèphe) and Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande in Pauillac.

One of the main challenges he faces as chef de cave is to maintain, year after year (despite climatic conditions), the house style, keeping it at its highest level, all the while developing and increasing the quality of the wines. For Cristal, only the very best grapes from old vines and low yields are used. A proportion of the wines (around 20%) is fermented in 100 hl oak casks with bâtonnage in order to give power, vinosity and complexity.

Today, the house’s biggest challenge is in the vineyard: to keep increasing the quality of the fruit (ripening, yields) by using a truly “sustainable” viticulture that respects the terroir and the environment.

Shared by Martinel Fitzsimons