Cristal 2012 is Louis Roederer's prestige cuvée from a difficult but ultimately excellent Champagne year. It is the first Cristal made entirely from biodynamically farmed fruit.
About This Champagne
2012 was one of the hardest seasons in recent memory, with frost, hail and disease cutting yields, then a warm, dry end of summer that brought unusual ripeness to the small crop. The result is a deep, vinous Cristal. The blend is 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay from grand cru sites in the Montagne de Reims, the Vallée de la Marne and the Côte des Blancs. About 32% of the wine was vinified in oak casks, with no malolactic fermentation, and the dosage is 7.5 g/l. Pinot Noir gives the palate its silky, mouth-coating texture.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Candied lemon and white flowers with roasted hazelnut and vanilla, then fresh pastry and a smoky note with air.
- Palate: Concentrated and chalky, powerful at first, with silky texture and a tense, precise line of acidity.
- Finish: Long and concentrated, with lemon zest and a clean mineral edge.
Serving & Food
Still youthful, so give it time in a white wine glass at 8 to 10°C, or keep it for 15 years or more. King crab, a spoon of caviar or roast chicken with morels bring out its depth.
How to Enjoy
Laying down in the cellar, though it already rewards anyone patient enough to let it breathe.
Product Details
Producer: Louis Roederer
Wine: Cristal
Vintage: 2012
Region: Champagne, France
Grape Variety / Blend: 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay
Dosage: 7.5 g/l
ABV: 12%
Volume: 750ml
About the Maison
Louis Roederer traces its roots to a Reims wine business set up in 1776. Louis Roederer inherited the firm in 1833, gave it his name and began buying vineyards at a time when most houses simply bought grapes. That habit shaped everything since: the house now farms roughly 240 hectares across the Montagne de Reims, the Vallée de la Marne and the Côte des Blancs, and it is still independent and family owned, run today by Frédéric Rouzaud.
Cristal was first made in 1876 for Tsar Alexander II, who asked for a flat-bottomed, clear bottle so nothing could be hidden beneath it. It went on general sale after the Second World War. It is made only in years the house thinks worthy, from its own grand cru vineyards, and each bottle is wrapped in gold cellophane to shield the clear glass from light.