Cristal 2014

The wine in this vintage

2014 was a two-faced vintage: a cool, rainy August, then a dry, sunny September that saved the harvest, with Chardonnay generally more successful than Pinot Noir. Cristal 2014 reflects that late luminosity: citrus, white flowers, pear, almond and a chalky minerality, on a silky, precise palate of great finesse. Antonio Galloni rated it 98 points and Robert Parker 96. It is already harmonious and approachable, and can be cellared for several more years to develop toastier, more complex nuances. In a year that favoured Chardonnay, the cuvée gains an especially luminous, Côte des Blancs-like lift, a fine illustration of the house’s ability to read a challenging season.

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

• 98 Antonio Galloni
• 96 Robert Parker

Technical details

Producer

Louis Roederer

Region

Champagne

Country

Francia

Type

Bollicine

Vintage

2014

When to drink

Hold, still evolving

Critics' average

97/100

Sizes

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

eWibe code

0640114