2015 Louis Roederer Cristal Brut
Producer: Louis Roederer
Region: Champagne
Country: France
Grapes: 55% Chardonnay, 45% Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2015
ABV: 12.5%
Vivino: 4.5
Drink By: 2100
Occasional Wine Note: This is one of the world's most iconic Champagnes. It blends Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from only Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards, and tastes as if the winemaker selected each grape independently. This one might last forever, and probably will not even begin to really deliver the goods for another 10 years. We love everything about this wine from nose to amazing finish with each sip another evolution that just creates another adventure in tasting. Worth the splurge!
Wine Enthusiast
Score: 98
From vineyards that are run organically, this iconic Champagne's latest iteration is as beautiful as ever. Textured, with a mineral undertow, the wine is just beginning to soften and show a balanced maturity.
Wine & Spirits
Score: 98
Ripened to fragrant white-peach flavors in the heat of the 2015 vintage, the biodynamically farmed fruit for Cristal transforms that ripeness into a delicate juiciness, the wine both luscious and youthfully concentrated, almost severe in its structure. None of the wine undergoes malolactic conversion, and a quarter of the base wine ages in oak; particularly in this vintage, Cristal is built for the long haul, rather than for drinking on release. Spicy and sub-tle, this wine's earthiness is incipient, not yet revealed, like a groundnut — not the peanut, but the native-American tuber with a flavor that might literally be described as a pomme de terre (an apple of the earth). Sophisticated and layered, this wine hums with a quiet energy.