Louis Roederer - Champagne Cristal w/t gift box 2015 (750ml)
Price: $400.00
Sale Price: $299.00
| Producer | Louis Roederer |
| Country | France |
| Region | Champagne |
| Varietal | Champagne |
| Vintage | 2015 |
| Size | 750ml |
Wine Independent Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW: 98 Points
The 2015 Cristal is a blend of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay. No malo-lactic was employed and 25% wine was aged in oak. The dosage is 7 grams per liter. An exquisitely delicate yet complex perfume of clover honey freshly shaved ginger marzipan and jasmine slowly emerges from the nose giving way to a core of pear tart persimmons and apple butter. The palate is an exercise in finesse featuring very fine bubbles and fantastic intensity with a myriad of spice and floral nuances finishing with impressive persistence and jaw-dropping poise. This is a style for those that embrace purity soft-spoken expression and impeccable crafting. It won't disappoint those who love Champagne in its initial youthful perfume flushes yet will undoubtedly reward the patient with a richer toastier more obvious and opulent style with
Wine Enthusiast: 98 Points
From vineyards that are run organically, this iconic Champagne's latest iteration is as beautiful as ever. Textured, with a mineral undertow, the wine is just beginning to soften and show a balanced maturity. Drink this great wine now. — Roger Voss
Others: 98 Points
Wine & Spirits
Ripened to fragrant white-peach flavors in the heat of the 2015 vintage, the biodynamically farmed fruit for Cristal transforms that ripeness into a delicate juiciness, the wine both luscious and youthfully concentrated, almost severe in its structure. None of the wine undergoes malolactic conversion, and a quarter of the base wine ages in oak; particularly in this vintage, Cristal is built for the long haul, rather than for drinking on release. Spicy and subtle, this wine’s earthiness is incipient, not yet revealed, like a groundnut—not the peanut, but the native-American tuber with a flavor that might literally be described as a pomme de terre (an apple of the earth). Sophisticated and layered, this wine hums with a quiet energy.
James Suckling: 97 Points
For the warm and dry vintage this has tremendous freshness and elegance. The complex nose of citrus blossom, mint, lemon and lime zest opens up slowly as this aerates in the glass. The wine’s ample structure is still quite firm, which is a vintage characteristic, the mousse very fine but also very lively for an eight-year-old champagne. Cristal fans will love this as it is, but a year or two more in the bottle will do a lot for the very long mineral finish of this youthful masterpiece. A cuvee of 60% pinot noir and 40% chardonnay, picked from all 45 Cristal vineyard plots. Tasted at the Cristal vertical tasting at the champagne house on July 6th, 2023. Drink from release.
Vinous: 96 Points
I have tasted the 2015 Cristal three times so far - once as part of an extensive vertical I will be reporting on shortly, and then later in my office. Those tastings paint a portrait of a complex Champagne that is still finding its center. Tasted at the maison, the 2015 is rich, dense and explosive, with tremendous textural intensity and also a good bit of energy to back it up. Citrus confit, spice, ginger, chalk and dried flowers abound in a Champagne endowed with tremendous aromatic presence in a style that offers notable richness, but lighter than vintages such as 2012. There is a bit of the savoriness that is such a signature of the year, but it is nicely integrated in the wine’s fabric. Two later tastings in my office strongly suggest the 2015 has already started to shut down a bit, which is a shame, as it may be hard to read for some time to come. Dosage is 7 grams per liter. Disgorged: November 2022.
This is a compelling set of new releases from Roederer and long-time Chef de Caves Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon. The 2015 Cristal is one of the more intriguing Champagnes in what has turned out to be a tricky vintage overall for a region that is struggling to adapt to the new reality of climate change and its impact on achieving phenolic maturity in the field. ?We strive to reach the classic measurement of 100 days between flowering and harvest and that requires waiting to pick? Lécaillon explains. ?At the same time acidity does not really exist anymore in Champagne so we have to find a way to reinvent it? he adds a bit ironically. The 2015 is an unusual Cristal in that it includes fruit from all 45 parcels at the domaine which has not happened since 2002. Pinots from Verzy and Verzenay north-facing sites in the Montagne de Reims featured quite a bit adding energy to the blend. As always there is no malolactic fermentation. About 25-30% of the lots were fermented in oak. In warmer vintages Lécaillon bumps up the wood a bit to add phenolic intensity which he describes as ?stretching out the finish? and adding freshness. - By Antonio Galloni on March 2023
Decanter: 95 Points
An open and inviting nose references cream, oatmeal and Amalfi lemon with the slightest edge of smoke. The palate immediately strikes with a mouthwatering lemon ripeness and a juicy, mouthfilling generosity reminiscent of yellow plum. It stays true to the trademark sleekness of Cristal and speaks of the concentration of 2015. Fine mousse accentuates the fullness and roundness of the wine while the long finish hints at chalky depth which, for now, is dominated by ripe stone fruit and more of that textured, rich notion of oatmeal. Definitely a Cristal to enjoy soon.
