Louis Roederer Cristal Rose 2014

As the largest independent family-managed Champagne producer, Louis Roederer rank amongst the region's absolute finest. Established in 1776, the House today is managed by seventh generation family member Frédéric Rouzaud alongside long-time Chef de Cave and Champagne legend Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon. They own an astounding 242 hectares of vineyards many in chalk rich Grand Cru villages covering two-thirds of their grape requirements. Roederer have become pioneers in biodynamic farming & by 2012 all 78 hectares the “Cristal Estates” are farmed using biodynamic methods. By 2021 Roederer have 115 hectares certified organic. All the grapes in Cristal & other vintage cuvee’s come from their own vineyards. The estate is made up of 410 plots which are fermented separately in one of the 450 stainless steel tanks in their Reims cellars. In 2020 Roederer replaced Brut Premier with “Collection” allowing each years non-vintage blend to be identified and “re-engineering” the non-vintage cuvee to maintain freshness in the light of global warming on the Champagne region. Today Cristal is, widely recognised as the world's most awarded prestige cuvée champagne.

In 1876, Russia's Tsar Alexander II, a long-time lover of Louis Roederer wines, asked the producer to create a special cuvée for his personal use which was unique in both its style and bottle design. Dissatisfied with standard champagne bottles that concealed the beautiful colour and effervescence from the eye, he requested that his personal cuvée be served in transparent crystal glass bottles, easier to spot poison and with a flat bottom to foil the insertion of explosives by would-be assassins. Thus, Louis Roederer selected the best vines from seven Grand Crus on his estate and Cristal, the first prestige cuvée, was born. Today some 45 plots make up the "Cristal Estates" and each vintage can sometimes be made up of all plots or as is normal often a few plots don't make the final blend.

In 1974, almost 200 years after the establishment of Champagne Louis Roederer and 100 years after the invention of Cristal, Jean-Claude Rouzaud decided to create a Cristal Rosé. To achieve this, he selected old-vine Pinot Noir grapes from the finest Grand Cru vineyards of Aÿ, which are now cultivated according to biodynamic principals. The unique calcareous soil, which gives the grapes an exquisite minerality, enables the vines to attain exceptional fruit maturity complemented by a crystalline acidity. The rosé is produced using the cold maceration technique for 2-4 days. As with Cristal, 20-30% of the wines are vinified in oak barrels and the final blend is matured on the lees for six years in cool dark cellars and rested for eight months after disgorgement. Produced only in the very best years, Cristal Rosé is Louis Roederer's rarest & finest champagne.

Cristal Rosé is a much smaller production made from just three parcels. Here, the preference is for riper Pinot from the Bonnotte-Pierre-Robert lieu-dit in Aÿ, macerated for about a week and then infused into Chardonnays from Montmartin in Mesnil-sur-Oger and Pierre Vaudon in Avize. Naturally, this approach requires parcels that ripen in a very specific sequence. Here, too, there is no malolactic fermentation.

Weather: A “weather waltz”, and one with clear, sharp contrasts! The spring was sunny and dry and ended with a heatwave in June; summer was autumnal, cool and rainy; September was hot, sunny and very dry... weather we would usually associate with the month of August. The ‘key’ to the vintage lay in the soils as well as in the work carried out by the winegrowers. The good drainage properties of the chalk on the lower-middle part of the hillside helped us greatly by allowing the excess water from the summer to drain away which limited any excess vigour in the vines. These factors were complemented by our increasingly eco-friendly viticultural practices which allow us to take our quest for grapes of perfect balance and maturity even further.

Technical Information:
Vineyards: 100% Grand Cru | Pinot Noir: Aÿ | Chardonnay: Avize, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger
Origins: 1/2 La Rivière Estate & 1/2 La Côte Estate (Detailed map)
Grape Varieties: 55% Pinot Noir, 45% Chardonnay
Lees Ageing: 7 years
Disgorged: June 2022
Dosage: 8 g/l
Malolactic Fermentation: 0%
Wines vinified in oak: 19%
Drink: Now to 2035

Champagne in clear bottles must be stored in complete darkness, it spoils quickly if exposed to any light source. Cristal is supplied in yellow wrapping (not shown in photo) do not remove it and ideally place in a box. Read More

Tasting Note: Pure, precise and dazzling bouquet. Pure, ripe and concentrated fruit: zesty red berries (red currants, wild raspberries, blackcurrants) and raspberry liqueur. Then come sweet spice and smoky notes with a hint of reduction (smoky, spicy) from the Pinot noir with its notes of undergrowth. Concentrated and broad on the palate, where the red fruit (strawberries, raspberries) is concentrated into a firm, dense texture. A whirlwind of flavours that burst delicately and gradually like salt bubbles on the palate. The saline, iodine impression combines with the smoky notes and acidity to create umami and an infinitely flavoursome finish.