Champagne Louis Roederer Cristal Brut 2016

Cristal’s story starts in 1876, when Louis Roederer first created a Champagne for Tsar Alexander II. Roederer has remained family-owned since 1776, and that long-term stewardship is apparent in the wines they produce. The 2016 comes from 32 parcels across seven Grand Cru villages – Pinot Noir from Verzenay, Verzy, Beaumont-sur-Vesle, and Aÿ, and Chardonnay from Avize, Mesnil-sur-Oger, and Cramant. 31% of the wine was vinified in oak, with no malolactic fermentation, and the finished Champagne has a modest Brut dosage to accentuate the fruit while keeping the whole thing taut and dry.

This is a 58% Pinot Noir, 42% Chardonnay blend, a touch more Chardonnay than Cristal usually sees. A hot August gave the Pinot Noir incredible richness and generosity, so cellar master Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon leaned into Chardonnay’s salty, mouthwatering edge to keep the cuvée lifted and balanced. He sees the vintage as a return to Cristal’s classic, chiseled style and has compared it to benchmark years like 2002 and 2008, and it’s poised to evolve beautifully for decades to come.

The color is a brilliant, shining yellow with a fine, slow moving bead, opening with white blossoms, lemon zest, and ripe peach, then drifting toward toasted hazelnut, warm brioche, and a small pinch of saffron. The Pinot Noir shows up silky and juicy in the mouth, wrapped around a core of salty stone minerals and crushed chalk, accented with ginger snap cookies, clementines, crushed raspberries, wildflower honey, and a curl of subtle smoke, with a lingering sense of sea spray tickling the tongue on the finish. It’s polished, vivid, and long, without a hint of heaviness, and “impressive resolution and integration of all components” according to James Suckling. This is a truly unforgettable, soul-stirring Champagne that will floor anyone who gets the privilege to try some. At this price, why wait?