Magum, 1.5 litre bottle. Louis Roederer Cristal 2008 is described as the best Cristal ever. This view is supported by Roederer's cellar master Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon, looking back at the 30 years he has worked with the Champagne house.
The 2008 vintage is an amber colour with green and orange highlights and a lively, fine sparkle. Complex candied citrus aromas with fruity williams pear and notes of toasted almonds. The cool summer of 2008 has given this vintage an almost saline concentration. A smooth and elegant wine with a long, taut, pure finish. Due to the impressive character of the vintage, cellar master Lecaillon made the decision to extend the wine's ageing to ten years before release, the longest ever for Cristal. Lecaillon compares the 2008 to the celebrated vintages of 1988 and 1996 but sought to improve upon even those years in his winemaking. 20% of the wines underwent fermentation in oak to impart sweetness, and a lower dosage was added to better express the elegant minerality.
The vintage also showcases the Champagne house's move towards biodynamic viticulture, drawing on biodynamically farmed vineyards for as much as 40% of the blend. Louis Roederer Cristal champagnes are created only during the very best years, when the grapes are of an unparalleled quality. The house draws on grands crus from the Montagne de Reims, the Marne Valley and the Cote des Blancs, ageing the wine as long as needed in their cellars in Reims, then allowing to mature for a further eight months before releasing at the perfect maturity.
Cristal represents the most exceptional cuvee of the House of Louis Roederer. Crafted in 1876 at the request of the Russian Tsar Alexander II to satisfy his demanding tastes, this distinguished champagne was presented in a flat-bottomed transparent lead-crystal bottle so that the Tsar could be certain no one had tampered with it. The champagne continues to produced in this unique and iconic bottle today.
The champagne bottle comes wrapped in orange cellophane and is presented in a Louis Roederer Cristal branded box. |
