Louis Roederer - Champagne Cristal w/t gift box 2016 (750ml)
Price: $349.00
Sale Price: $299.00
| Producer | Louis Roederer |
| Country | France |
| Region | Champagne |
| Varietal | Champagne |
| Vintage | 2016 |
| Size | 750ml |
James Suckling: 98 Points
This has wonderfully pure fruit aromas such as peaches Asian pears and golden apples alongside lemon curd gingerbread chalk and jasmine. Rock salt and oyster shells follow on the palate which is so seamless that you scarcely notice the super-fine bubbles. It’s concentrated yet gentle at the same time with impressive resolution and integration of all components. Salty and creamy at the very-long finish. Fantastic! 58% pinot noir and 42% chardonnay. Drink or hold.
Wine Enthusiast: 98 Points
his iconic Champagne, first made in the 19th century for the Tsar of Russia, shows its typical stunning balance and poise between richness and concentration. It has a pure white fruit and honeysuckle aroma and tight, tangy fresh fruit flavors. Just ready to drink, the wine will age well, for at least 20 years. Organic. *Cellar Selection*
Jeb Dunnuck: 98 Points
The 2016 Champagne Cristal is transparent and complex with lovely aromas of fresh flowers. Medium-bodied and chiseled with great texture well-defined saltiness and delicate notes of shortbread it’s a shimmering and electric wine with fantastic detail. It has a concentrated chalky profile and is flush with crushed stones. It will demand some patience but this is a fantastic wine in this vintage for Cristal. Bravo.
Wine Advocate: 97 Points
The 2016 Cristal is a taut incisive rendition of this benchmark bottling unwinding in the glass with youthfully reserved aromas of citrus oil white flowers wet stones and subtle hints of sweet buttery pastry. Medium to full-bodied chiseled and racy it's almost as electric as the brilliant 2013 with serious concentration a pure core of fruit chalky structuring dry extract and a long intensely mineral finish. Given its tightly wound profile my advice is to forget it in the cellar for a few years and work on the more open outgoing 2014 in the meantime. Jean-Baptise Lecaillon described 2016 as a complicated season much like 2021 and 2024 (so far). Heavy pressure from downy mildew in spring and powdery mildew in summer made for low yields and caught some growers unawares perhaps explaining why this vintage is a notable omission from a number of houses' portfolios. An August heat wave made for ripe Pinot Noir with thick skins contributing density and extract; and so to temper that Lecaillon and his team included a touch more Chardonnay than usual fully 42% versus a more habitual 40%. That Chardonnay somewhat reductive in profile amplifies the 2016 Cristal's taut chiseled profile. Only 32 of the 45 parcels that are candidates for inclusion in Cristal's blend made the final cut; but neither the Montagne de Reims nor the Vallée de la Marne predominate as both had their contribution to make. The result is a classic in the best sense of the term and one that will offer a long and broad drinking window. Published: Aug 15 2024
Decanter: 97 Points
Cristal 2016 represents a return to purity and classicism for this cuvée, even seen through the lens of 2016's ripe, generous nature. It is discreet in youth, cloaking its ripeness in long, chalky, stony energy. Gentle mandarin, pale apricot and raspberry fruit sit under slowly maturing notions of floral honey and tight, smoky charm. An airy, flowing delicacy and persistence lifts this above some other expressions of this year. It's a hugely promising Cristal, likely to stand as tall as the sought-after 2012 and 2013 releases.
Wine Independent Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW: 98+ Points
The 2016 Cristal is a blend of 58% Pinot Noir and 42% Chardonnay with 7 grams per liter of dosage. No malo-lactic was performed here, and 31% of the base wines were aged in French oak. The nose begins with bright red berry notes of fresh raspberries and strawberries before opening out to a complex undercurrent of saffron, white chocolate, talc, baker’s yeast, and emerging wafts of citron blossom and pear tart. The palate is very dry and spicy, not needing even a touch more sweetness thanks to the abundance of ripe berry and citrus flavors, delivering beautifully knit acidity and typically tiny, persistent bubbles. It finishes with notes of effervescent chalkiness and saffron flowers, leaving you reaching for another sip.
