Tasting Notes:
Amber hue with green and orange tints. Fine, even and lively sparkle.
Complex and intense bouquet disclosing candied citrus, yellow fruit, Williams pear, pollen and toasted almond. The delicately seductive bouquet shows intensity and well-honed precision.
The wine is powerful, full yet tight, on entry to the palate. It is undeniably well structured but in a particular way: the wine’s almost saline concentration has not been created by the sun, but is derived from the dryness of the chalk soil in a particularly cool summer.
The result is a smooth, almost liquorous, mouthfeel that coats the palate with a powerful yet soft texture. This gives way to an incredible finish, underpinned by freshness and an impression of absolute purity with a taut and very saline character.
Assemblage:
Cristal is made with 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay – 20% wines matured in wood (oak casks) with weekly batonnage – 20% malolactic fermentation. Cristal is a blend of grand crus from the Reims mountain, the Marne Valley and Côte des Blancs.
Cristal is bottle-aged for 8 years before being left to rest for at least 8 months after disgorging in order to attain perfect maturity.
The dosage is 8 g/l.
Background Information:
Established in 1776, Champagne Louis Roederer is one of the few remaining completely independent family owned, great Champagne houses.
In 1876 Tsar Alexander II, who was already a great fan of Louis Roederer’s champagne, asked Louis Roederer to go one step further and produce, for his own personal consumption, a unique wine in quality and bottle. Louis Roederer offered to create an exceptional white crystal bottle to house the best selection from the 7 finest vineyards of his estate. This wine was only produced in the “great” years when the ripeness of the Chardonnay and Pinot noir enabled a subtle, precise balance. The wine is the region’s most prestigious.
The annual production of its wines (Brut Premier, Carte Blanche, Brut Vintage, Rosé Vintage, Blanc de Blancs, Cristal, Cristal Rosé) represents just over three million bottles, distributed to 100 countries worldwide.
In 1974, almost 200 years after the establishment of the Champagne house of Louis Roederer and 100 years after the creation of Cristal, Jean-Claude Rouzaud decided to create the Cristal Rosé cuvée. To achieve this, he selected old-vine Pinot Noir grapes using massal selection, which involves propagation from the vineyard’s most successful plants.
Kuntai Tse (Verified Purchaser) –
Great seller. Will buy again.