Louis Roederer Cristal 2015

Louis Roederer Cristal, Champagne, France, 2015

Grapes: 60% Pinot Noir & 40% Chardonnay. A blend of fruit from seven Grand Cru sites. Biodynamic farming. 25% of the wines are vinified in oak. No malolactic fermentation. Aged for 6 years on yeast and a further 8 months in bottle.

Producer Tasting Note:

Deep yellow hue with a lustrous sheen. Ultra-fine, dynamic bubbles.

Intense, concentrated bouquet of yellow fruit (white peach, mirabelle plum) combined with a delicious concentrated toastiness in the form of roasted hazelnut and almond aromas. Perfect, seamless and complex marriage of the almond, wheat and sweet pollen notes from the Chardonnay with the juicy red fruit of the Pinot Noir.

Concentrated, energetic and vibrant on the palate, starting out as a silky, almost oily, caress, with soft flavours of candied citrus and iodised spices. Then the powdery texture becomes tauter and the pure, precise and chiselled freshness crescendos. The salivating finish is underpinned by slightly oaky, sappy and saline notes that create a simultaneous sensation of delicacy and concentration.

Critics' Tasting Notes:

"If the 2014 vintage was especially open and demonstrative, the 2015 Cristal is going to require more patience. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of citrus oil, crisp stone fruits, white flowers, crushed mint and subtle hints of buttery pastry, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, with a deep, concentrated and rather introverted core of fruit framed by chalky extract and animated by a pretty pinpoint mousse. This is a serious, vinous Champagne that has considerable substance to age and may well evolve along the lines of the lovely 1985." Drink 2027 - 2050

95+/100 points, William Kelley, WINE ADVOCATE, April 2023

Also rated 98/100 points, The Wine Independent, April 2023