Louis Roederer, Cristal

Finally a good bottle! The cork blasted hard! Scent: light spicies, some yellow fruit. Taste: matured red, green and yellow apples, good amount of acid but not stingy. Chalk, some mineral, plum, cherry, raw mango, lemon zest, grilled citrus.

1993 vintage

2nd of 12 and nearly 4 years since my last bottle. Pop and pour at a restaurant. This still needs hours worth of air. Developed somewhat throughout dinner. Better depth and raw material than all the vintages since 02 but this needs another 5 plus years. 02 is much better currently but this seems like an 02 on steroids. This has another 30 years on it and may improve as well for the next 30 years. Best pairing of the …

2008 vintage

2 bottles during the last year, both showing superbly. One of those noses I absolutely love, the palate had swarming fruit intensity and a fine mousse with a close to endless finish. Astonishing quality, and when considering the production it is kind of unbelievable

2008 vintage

RJ’s birthday weekend; 2/27/2026-3/1/2026 (Bluffton, South Carolina) : Perfectly mature nose displaying succulent yellow fruit with a hint of red, baked apple, lemon curd, cherry sold, brioche, crème brulee and limestone. Excellent concentration, finely layered decadent yellow fruit, rich and ripe but also beautifully balanced and precise, very fine medium generous mousse, bright acidity, fine mineral, and a seamless long decadent yet pure yellow fruit driven finish. This particular bottle shows less bubbles. This is drinking incredibly well.

2008 vintage

Mid straw. Good stream of fine bubbles. Poised and elegant with a sense of restrained power. Mineral, a little crème pat emerging from the minerality to round things nicely on the mid palate and long finish. Really very fine. *****

2008 vintage

@Bluewater with dear John Pale gold in color. Not a lot of bubbles. Lemon brioche, some salty, briney sea air Not much mousse. Yellow apple, lemon and lime Medium plus finish. Nice age on this .

2008 vintage

Took an hour to come around but so perfectly balanced it’s close to impossible to find fault. Maybe intensity. Super smooth and refined. Everything in check. Strong citrus. Both lemon and lime. Salon like thickness. Briny in a good way. Really fantastic stuff.

2008 vintage

Excellent wine, but I had higher expectations

2008 vintage

Spicy on the palate but dissipates overall. Nice mouth feel. Light body. Some apple/crisp aroma. Hint of cherry for taste. Not doing full review as drinking this in a limo and quite enjoying it

2008 vintage

Still rather closed. 96+

2008 vintage

In her dress, she wore a pale yellow stole, already edging toward gold. On the nose, an initially over-oxidized note appeared, though it gradually subdued after about an hour. On the palate, the acidity was striking—almost reminiscent of vitamin-C soda—followed by an elegant finish. Cristal typically does not undergo malolactic fermentation; however, about 20% of the 2008 vintage reportedly did, giving a touch of added subtlety and creaminess. Overall, this was a rather mediocre showing by Cristal, weaker than other …

2008 vintage

A beautiful bottle. Still full of life, and very good.

1993 vintage

Perfectly balanced.

2008 vintage

New Years Day: Vrai Champagne, Ninth Annual Edition (Brad & Marcia's Place, St. Paul, MN) : Small pour. Brief note. Excellent, though still a bit reclusive from being at it's most fully expressive peak. Some bottles have really hit that mark, and this one was close but didn't have the full complement of complexity. Yes, a bit nit picky, but still true. No toast, orchard fruits, light green apple chiffon texture, almond, dried white roes, biscuit, Meyer lemon, chalky, medium …

2008 vintage

Happy to open this at New Years. It is a beautiful champagne. The palate is medium plus with a softness that brings you into the experience. The wine is crisp, determined, and elegant. Brioche, tiny bubbles, and a spring freshness showed its innocence. We had it with caviar which was a perfect combination. However, the champagne is so good that it stands on its own. I am deferring to those who feel the best is yet to come, but in …

2008 vintage

Pop and poured. Drank over the next 90 minutes. 2nd bottle from a case purchased upon release. First one was 7 years ago and the next should be in 5-7 more. Excellent now but this has the potential to be outstanding with some more cellar time. No harm in drinking now if you want. You will love it. That said, the best times are to come.

2008 vintage

Post-Christmas Dinner : Open and recork 4 hours. Still tight and linear. Opened up after 30-60 minutes in the glass. Wonderful texture with brioche, marzipan, lemon curd and a touch of white flowers. Stunning wine, but reinforced my premonition that we need to hold these for a (long) while longer yet.

2008 vintage

This was reticent on the nose when opened at fridge temp but opened with air and time to become much more expressive. The mousse is exceptionally fine, leading to a creamy texture coupled with zingy acidity leading into a very long finish which expands its flavors as it unfolds. This was lovely drinking well but has tons of upside for my palate.

2008 vintage

Pale golden. Complex seductive multilayered exotic fruits and some red berries Full bodied with well balanced acidity and fine bubbles. Excellent length

2005 vintage

Last time I had this was 2018. It’s aging slowly, but it’s still just as impressive as it has been every other time I’ve had it. So delicious and has this great verve/acidity to it that is just delicious. Excellent.

2008 vintage

Fantastic nose with brioche, grapefruit, flowers, and lemon notes. Quite high acidity on the palate with more grapefruit, minerals, lemon zest, and chamomile flavors. Very long finish. There's a lot of complexity and so much going on and the wine is even better on the palate than on the nose. Simply outstanding! It's drinking well now but should continue to improve with age. 98+

2008 vintage

An excellent bottle loved by all.

2008 vintage

Ruud his 70th birthday. Only superb wines. (By Ruud) : Brioche, complex, fresh acidity, minerals and pleasant bitterness in the finish.

2008 vintage

Crisp, fresh and still youthful although a joy to drink given its incredible precision and laser-like acidity balanced by rich yellow fruits. There are some tertiary notes in the background including baked apple and grilled nuts and the finish is palate-staining with a searing mineralogy. Got better and sweeter in glass but I think the best is yet to come here. 95+

2008 vintage

From Jero stunning. With the few years evolution miles ahead the younger vintages.

2008 vintage

This ’08 Cristal from Louis Roederer was enjoyed at our annual NYC Holiday dinner, which is always kindly hosted by JK and co. It was great to get back up to NYC and enjoy a lovely night with lovely company to ring in the Holidays. This was a perplexing, complex, incredibly enjoyable wine – open knit and brioche forward on the front palate to then have a wave of acid that comes in, leaving you wanting more. Tasting notes of …

2008 vintage

A beautifully refined and accessible bottle of Cristal which is drinking perfectly now, and an enormous step up from the straight ubiquitous Brut Premier bottling served before it. One to drink while waiting for your 2008s to mature.

2005 vintage

Pure precision on the nose with interwoven patisserie, citrus oil, orchard fruit. Mineral and pure. Hugely concentrated but with a weightless character. Very fine bead of acidity. Very long, delicately nutty finish. Delicious now but no rush.

2008 vintage

From magnum… I am always so amazed how Cristal can be so precise, crystalline, and yet so inviting, rich. This baby, in a mag, has it all! It is certainly precise, driven by hard minerals and sharp citrus fruit like lemon and sour orange. Nothing sweet about it, but it presents rich and balanced. I also got perceptions of desiccated fruit peels, lemon curd, dried sand and an ever so slight whiff of earth.

2008 vintage

Gold color. Creamy. Lemon zest. Pastry. Custard. Honey. Almond.

2005 vintage

Light gold color. Drank 2 glasses over 90 minutes at Schwa. This has a blissful nose of fresh stone fruits, acacia flowers, fresh air, lemon zest and orange peel with fresh cut chalk. The palate is sublime, medium bodied, deft and ridiculously fresh and bright. There's a wonderful creamy texture, very plush, fine chalk, crushed cashews, with orange peel, lemon zest and hints of green apple peel. Thus was vivid, regal and poised - a nice head turner.

2005 vintage

Intro to Chicago; 7/30/2025-8/2/2025 : Now we are talking. We pulled some incredible bottles for an unbelievable meal at Schwa. Even though we couldn't optimize the pairing, it just didn't matter given the quality of the wine and the inventiveness of the food. WHAT MOUTHFEEL. This was just so creamy. It envelopes your mouth and sucks you in. Everything was harmonious and I didn't want it to stop. Add to it zesty stone fruits, light citrus flavors, chalk and hints …

2005 vintage

Man, still alot younger than expected. Tight, not showing too much on nose, just hunt of autolytics and the taste was all lemon, with just a hint of bready and mature notes. Howver, after open for a couple hours, this really blossomed. Much more dense flavors, more interesting for sure. I'm going to wait 5-10yrs to try the next one.

2005 vintage

Opened by Mark. A blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. 8g/l dosage. Disgorged in 2013. Wow! Just excellent. 20 years old but fresh, lively and quite effervescent. Whitish straw color. Round with notes of brioche, chalk and lemon cream. Long finish. 97 points.

2005 vintage

From magnum. These have been very approachable since release, and are always a crowd pleaser. Tonight was no exception. A very good vintage for Cristal.

2005 vintage

Offert à mon frère pour ses 60 ans et ouvert en réunion de famille. Joli cordon de bulles fines, jolie couleur tendant vers l'or Pour le reste, pâlot Probablement trop âgé. Je pensais qu'un grand champagne supportait la garde.

2005 vintage

Fresh.

2005 vintage

9 years since I tried this bottle. Scent: light scent of tart, medium raisins. Taste: A lot of yellow and orange fruit here, white peach, citrus, mandarine. clementine, flint stone, light minerals. After around 20 minutes flavours pop out more. I find: juicy fresh redyellow peach, Fresh red apples, lemon curd, citrus that fades into yellow apples and a tiny bit of raisins. On the finish it tastes like pear ice cream with some elements of yellow and orange candied …

2005 vintage

Some biscuit, sweet peach and spice. Full and relatively round. You can feel the sweetness of the dosage. Ready to go.

2005 vintage

9 months since last bottle. Very weak pop. I keep myself to my previous note. Taste of mostly sour and bitter lime, some mineral, chalk. The acid is pretty stingy. This bottle was one step worse than the last one I had. More sour and stingy. One of the weakest vintages made from Cristal.

1993 vintage

Showing real depth of flavour and the bead is still strong. Remarkable given its age.

2005 vintage

Nice golden color intense and complex nose lots of exotic fruits and lovely bread crumb. Full bodied with fine bubbles and excellent length

2005 vintage

Highly reflective clear medium gold with spare small bubbles. Lots of white flowers and distant Meyer lemon on the nose. Bone-dry but somehow leaves an impression of sweetness. Similar to the bouquet, Light Meyer lemon notes with lots of flowers. Long mineral Meyer lemon finish. Really delicious.

2005 vintage

Disappointing. Lacked depth & biscuit flavors.

2005 vintage

Beautiful color, softer on the palate with good weight and a long finish. BUY

2005 vintage

One of the few “baller” bottles in the cellar (gotten as a gift), opened to celebrate a professional and life milestone. Except I didn’t really get it. Yes it’s fresh at 19 years and rich and dense with a very tightly-clustered mousse. But the flavour profile is purely lees and also it’s fairly sweet (ok it’s a Brut anyway). Blocky on the palate. I suppose one can only credit the house’s business acumen for managing to charge the RRP they …

2005 vintage

Now it was 8 years since i tried this vintage. The fizz was very low, 1 out of 5. The bubbles are not here. Scent: Very damp scent, hard to pick out anything. Taste: A shimmering mixture of yellow citrus tones, and a little bit of lime. Tones of drid apricot. Theres also some mineral and chalk in the background. Its also an overlay of a mixture between red and yellow apples that are oxidated. The flavour register is shrouded. …

1993 vintage

Wow, this is one of the best and drinking beautifully at almost 20 years old.

2005 vintage

Starke Performance - perfekte Flasche

2005 vintage

Burgundy Tasting (Restaurant Brunnenstube, Beinstein) : Clear, medium golden color with a salmon hue. On nose and palate the complete opposite of the 2003 DomPi we had in parallel: Fine, elegant nose with lots of red fruit and fresh green apple. On the palate very precise, lean, youthful and fresh. Finest mousseux, elegant and very long. I guess it is not yet at its full peak and could benefit from 5+ years of cellaring. Very beautiful! 94

2005 vintage

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Louis Roederer, Cristal

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