Cristal 2007

The wine in this vintage

An early, uneven year, 2007 brought premature flowering, a cool, rainy summer and a very early harvest, producing light, fresh wines in which Chardonnay often stood out. Cristal 2007 is one of the most successful wines of the vintage: delicate and luminous, with notes of citrus, white flowers, apple and a subtle chalky minerality on a fine, harmonious and flowing palate. Robert Parker gave it 95 points. More airy than powerful, it is already drinking very well and can be kept for a few more years without the need for long waiting.

The producer · Louis Roederer

Founded in Reims in 1776 and led by Louis Roederer from 1833, the house is one of the few great Champagne houses still independent and family-owned, run today by Frédéric Rouzaud, a direct descendant, with cellar master Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon. Its defining asset is its own vineyard holding, more than 240 hectares across the Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne and Côte des Blancs, which covers most of its needs and gives complete control of the fruit, with a progressive move to organic and biodynamic farming. The name is inseparable from Cristal, created in 1876 for Tsar Alexander II of Russia in its famous clear, flat-bottomed bottle and offered commercially from 1945. Made only in great years from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grown in the finest crus, Cristal embodies a luminous, silky style of crystalline purity. Since 1974 it has been joined by Cristal Rosé, born from old Pinot Noir vines in Aÿ.

Critics' scores

• 95 Robert Parker
• 95 Wine Enthusiast
• 94 Wine Spectator
• 18/20 Jancis Robinson

Technical details

Producer

Louis Roederer

Region

Champagne

Country

Francia

Type

Bollicine

Vintage

2007

When to drink

Hold, still evolving

Critics' average

94.7/100

Sizes

75 cl, Magnum 150 cl, Case of 6 × 75 cl

eWibe code

0640107