Champagne Louis Roederer - Brut Cristal 2016 avec étui

Bettane & Desseauve

About the domain :

Founded in Reims in 1776, Roederer is still owned by the same family, represented today by Frédéric Rouzaud. In recent years, it has pioneered the gradual conversion of its vast 242-hectare vineyard to organic and biodynamic farming (126 hectares). Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon, eminent cellar master and agronomist, never ceases to impress with his intimate knowledge of each plot on the estate and the choices he makes. Cristal exceptionnel cuvée de prestige comes exclusively from vines growing on chalk soils. The vintage wines and the heart of the non-vintage brut, now called Collection, with a number indicating the base year of the blend, still come from chalky but more clayey soils. Wines destined for longer ageing do not undergo malolactic fermentation, which means that the grapes have to be picked at high maturity, often close to 11°. Today's wines are certainly the most remarkable ever produced, including the astonishing coteaux-champenois reds and whites, with the highly confidential cuvées Camille.

Decanter

About the wine:

Cristal 2016 represents a return to purity and classicism for this cuvée, even allowing for the ripeness and generosity of early 2016. It is characteristically discreet in its youth, concealing its maturity under a long, chalky, stony energy. Sweet tangerine, pale apricot and raspberry sit beneath slowly ripening notions of floral honey and tight, smoky charm. Airy, fluid delicacy and persistence elevate this cuvée above some of this year's other expressions. This is an extremely promising Cristal, likely to rise to the same level as the highly sought-after 2012 and 2013 versions.

Guide Hachette des vins

About the domain :

A house born in Reims as early as 1776. Louis Roederer became owner in 1833, expanded the business and acquired vineyards. In the 1870s, the house, which delivers 2.5 million bottles, has as its main customer Russia, where Tsar Alexander II asks Louis Roederer to create a prestigious champagne: the famous Cuvée Cristal is launched (1876). With 240 hectares of vineyards (1er cru and grand cru) accounting for 2/3 of its supplies, the company is still run by the descendants of its founders. The latest, Frédéric Rouzaud, now heads a group that owns Champagnes Deutz and numerous prestige crus, from the Médoc to Provence, from Portugal to California.

Robert Parker - Wine Advocate

About the wine:

The best vintage since 2013, Cristal 2016 proved magnificent. A vintage that Lecaillon describes as "difficult in the vines but magnificent in the cellar", which had suffered slightly in terms of reputation due to the gloomy mood that prevailed during the difficult growing season, but whose results are actually impressive. The fifth edition produced entirely from certified organic fruit and with a strong Pinot Noir component, the 2016 represents contemporary Cristal quality, combining the concentration of the 2002 with the precision and crispness of the 2013. Disgorged in July 2024 with a dosage of seven grams per liter, it opens in the glass to reveal a bouquet of lemon zest, white flowers and peeled almond, framed by a youthful reduction. On the palate, it's lively and electric, with a core of pure fruit, a precise mousse and a textured attack, ending with a long, saline finish.

RVF - La Revue du Vin de France / Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France

About the wine:

The 2016 vintage is a great success, aptly expressing all the nobility of this vintage, appreciated by enlightened connoisseurs. Cristal 2016 has a great future ahead of it: a magnificent, complete juice, both mature and fresh, in a very Champagne spirit.

About the domain :

Here's one of Champagne's finest standard-bearers. This family-run estate boasts a vineyard of 420 plots, 70% of which are classified as Grand Cru, and the majority of which are Pinot Noir. Viticulture is a real priority here, notably through the transition to biodynamic viticulture. Soil cultivation is becoming the norm. Only such an exceptional vineyard can explain the unique level of harmony and concentration in such large volumes. It's no coincidence that the cellar master, Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, is an oenologist as well as an agronomist, just like Jean-Claude Rouzaud, who built the current empire of the great Roederer international vineyards. He handed over the reins of the group to his son, Frédéric Rouzaud, current Chairman, at an early age. Here, malolactic fermentation is only partial and random (between 25% and 50%). The juices are worked on their lees in vats and oak barrels, to give them thickness.

Jancis Robinson

About the wine:

Typically light, young Cristal always seems so modest on the nose. Young fruit with a vegetal, leafy touch. The length seems a little more promising, and it's a safe bet, based on older vintages, that it will improve with time. But at this stage, it still has a long way to go.

James Suckling

About the wine:

It has wonderfully pure fruity aromas of peach, Asian pear and golden apple, accompanied by notes of lemon cream, gingerbread, chalk and jasmine. Sea salt and oyster shells follow on the palate, which is so harmonious that the ultra-fine bubbles are barely noticeable. It is both concentrated and smooth, with impressive resolution and integration of all components. Very long, salty and creamy finish. Fantastic! 58% Pinot Noir and 42% Chardonnay. For drinking or cellaring.

Jeb Dunnuck

About the wine:

Champagne Cristal 2016 is transparent and complex, with lovely aromas of fresh flowers. Medium-bodied and chiseled, with lovely texture, well-defined salinity and delicate notes of shortbread, this is a sparkling, electric wine with fantastic detail. It has a concentrated, chalky profile, with notes of crushed stone. It will require a little patience, but it's a fantastic wine in this vintage for Cristal. Well done.