2016 Louis Roederer Cristal (Disgorged)
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Tasting notes
The 2016 vintage provided a hot August, creating rich and expressive Pinot Noir, so Chef de Cave Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon used a little more Chardonnay in the blend to lift the wine and create balance (with the final blend 58% Pinot Noir and 42% Chardonnay). Lécaillon considers the vintage a return to a more classically Cristal style after the bolder 2015, comparing it to the fabled 2008, although elevated by the extensive efforts they’ve been making in the vineyards. The wine is a little shy at first, with delicate lemon blossom, honeysuckle and chalk, with a waft of white peach emerging with air. The palate reveals a wine of remarkable finesse, incredibly tight at this youthful stage, combining a savoury, biscuity quality with sweet, ripe peach and chalky, mineral power. The mousse is incredibly fine, with a soft texture that adds further to the sense of elegance and purity. Intense, long and flawlessly balanced – an outstanding vintage of Cristal.
Critic scores
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
William Kelley, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The 2016 Champagne Cristal is chalky and pristine, with a crystalline nature and notes of white peach, fresh citrus blossoms, and bright salinity. Tasted for the first time last year, it captures a precise and focused energy that’s unmatched. It boasts the energy and tension of 2002 and the precision of 2008. The wet-stone minerality of fresh chalk texture is profound, opening with medium body, showing pinpoint mousse, and sustaining a weightless energy through the long finish. This is not an obvious wine on opening, but it is by far one of my favorite wines of the year. It is going to require some patience, but it is worth stashing away and should have fantastic longevity. Drink 2027-2050.
Typically light – young Cristal always seems so modest on the nose. Youthful fruit with a streaky, leafy side to it. The length seems a bit more promising, and there's strong benefit-of-the-doubt to be applied, based on older vintages. But at this stage, it's got a long way to go. (RH)
58% Pinot Noir, 42% Chardonnay from grand cru villages. The dominant ingredient is Pinot Noir from a north-facing vineyard in Verzenay. Cristal is usually made up of 45 of 70 plots that are at least 20 years old, all fermented as single-vineyard wines and during the winter they select the best. Only 32 of these 45 plots made it into this selection because, according to chef de cave Lécaillon, 2016 was tricky because of the wet spring (as were the early 2012 and late 2013 vintages). There was lots of mildew in their organic vineyards although a beautiful August mitigated the situation. Low crop picked throughout the second half of September. Concentrated fruit. He believes that the vines were more settled into an organic protocol by 2016. 31% oaked wine. No malo, no chaptalisation. Dosage 7 g/l. There will be no Cristal 2017. The 2018 will be released in 2026. Very, very concentrated and dense with some salinity and really juicy. 'We call it the Chevalier-Montrachet of Champagne because it's discreet rather than showy', according to Lécaillon. Markedly savoury, and indeed not entirely unlike modern, slightly austere white burgundy. Definite chewiness on the end and a bottle that should ideally be kept awhile. But, presumably thanks to warmer summers and organically grown vines, it's more open than Cristal used to be on release. (JR)