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Uutiset
Champagne Louis Roederer launches Cristal 2013
The top-end expression from the house was introduced to UK press yesterday with a virtual presentation on the new release by Louis Roederer cellar master, Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon.
Describing the Champagne as chalky, precise, salty and bright, as well as fleshy and ripe, he said the wine had a perfect natural balance, and “lots of ageing potential”, noting that it was a textbook expression of Cristal.
Commenting on his aim for the top-end cuvée, which retails in the UK for £195, he said, “Cristal is about the white soil, and the sunshine, and my aim is to reach 50:50; 50% chalk and 50% sunshine, and this is right on the middle, the target has been met,” he said, explaining that the chalky soils of the Cristal vineyards bring salinity and brightness to the Champagne, while the sun provides flesh and fruitiness.
Comparing the latest vintage release to other recent harvests used for Cristal, he said that “the 2012 had a bit more sunshine, and the 2008 a bit more white soil.”
Following the 2012 expression, the 2013 is the second vintage of Cristal using 100% biodynamically-farmed grapes from the Louis Roederer estate in Champagne.
Lecaillon also said that due to the “complicated” nature of the 2013 growing season, which saw lower yields in the vines, while requiring strict selection in certain sites for the Pinot Noir component, production was down around 20-30% compared to the 2008 release.
He also said that the Champagne would reach an optimum expression around 15-20 years after the harvest, suggesting that Cristal 2013 would benefit from further cellaring to express its full potential – in other words, drink it from 2028-2033.
However, he also noted that it had been his aim since the Cristal 2002 vintage to make the expression more “approachable” on release, noting that the ripe fruit character in 2013, combined with the natural balance of the grapes, and use of oak in the fermentation process, had made the Champagne delicious to drink now.
But, while Lécaillon had allowed around 20% of the wines for Cristal 2008 go through the malo-lactic fermentation, which sees the firmer tasting malic acid converted to softer lactic acid, in 2013, none of the wines went through this conversion.
My tasting note on the Champagne can be seen below, along with some details on the release.
While open and expressive, the nose suggests a fresh, taut style of Champagne, although there are some ripe notes, as well as further delicate characters from the ageing process. So, aromas range from crisp apple and citrus zest – typical of a non-malolactic sparkling wine – to brioche, honey, and a hint of pear and peach.
The palate shows a similar contrast, with poached pear and yellow fruit, a touch of honey and hazelnut, baked baguette, and a creamy-textured fine, persistent fizz, before finishing with green apple and tangy lemon, followed by a lingering salty taste, along with a fine dusting of chalky tannin, bringing a pleasant dryness. While layered, with a wonderful array of complementary characters, the Champagne displays a tautness that makes it refreshing now, but also suggests it will benefit from further cellaring, and should reveal more in five to 10 years time.
Viinin Kuvailu
The Story
In 1876 when Tsar Alexander II requested that a special cuvée be created for his court Roederer duly obliged, creating what many regard to be the first prestige cuvée.
As the political situation in Russia was somewhat unstable, Tsar Alexander feared assassination. He ordered that Champagne bottles be made of clear glass, so that he could see the bubbles and to prevent anyone from hiding a bomb within, as could easily happen with a typical dark green bottle. Roederer commissioned a Flemish glassmaker to create clear lead crystal Champagne bottles with a flat bottom.
Originally a sweet blend, the Champagne was named “Cristal” after these distinctive clear lead crystal glass bottles.
In 1909, the House of Louis Roederer was regarded as the “Official Purveyor of Champagne to the Imperial Court of Russia” – a business coup that was later reversed following the deposition of the Tsar during the 1917 Revolution. Prohibition in the US caused additional financial difficulties during the early 20th century. However, the house survived these setbacks and today Louis Roederer remains an independent, family-owned business, managed by Roederer’s descendant, Frédéric Rouzaud.
The composition of Cristal is approximately 55% Pinot Noir and 45% Chardonnay. The grapes used in the wine come from only the finest vineyards in Grand Cru villages. Lecaillon talks about the crucial role that vineyards play in quality:
“A majority of our most recent development has been in vineyard operations. We have strict limits set for crop yields and we're using vines that are 25 years old on average. We evaluate the grapes coming from our own vineyards very critically. We try to improve the vineyards that aren't performing well and keep the ones that are at the highest level of quality.
The grapes from our own vineyards produce wines with an alcohol content that’s an average of 1% higher than those produced with purchased grapes. There’s less tart malic acid in our own grapes. Even though we strive for the highest possible acidity, it’s absolutely necessary that this is accompanied by a ripe fruitiness. We belong to the five-percent minority of Champagne's producers who do not use malolactic fermentation to reduce wine acidity. The range of aromas is accentuated by the high-acid structure, much in the same way a salad dressing brings out the aromas in the food.
“And we stopped using cloned vines - we're only using the vine offspring from our own vineyards to ensure natural diversity. In the 1950s, -60s and -70s cloning was far too simple a solution for such a complex thing." Chef de Cave Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon explained
Wine Information
Two thousand thirteen was a reduced vintage, yields well down, but it gave extra concentration to the grapes. Great weather was marred by some late rain, which meant that the top producers were forced to sort their fruit very carefully (but then this is why they are considered the top producers – others are not so fanatical).
The Louis Roederer team ended up using only 30 of the usual 45 plots. The blend was 60 percent Pinot Noir and 40 percent Chardonnay.
For those who enjoy technical specs, both the alcohol and acidity levels match those of 2008 but the pH was higher. In 2008, Lecaillon felt it necessary to indulge in a small amount of malolactic fermentation. But because the vintage in 2013 burnt more of the malic acid off than happened in 2008, it was not necessary for this latest release. Dosage was 8 grams/liter, and 32 percent of the wines were vinified in oak.
Lecaillon painted himself into the same corner that writers often face: if you give a wine 100 points, or thereabouts, what happens if the next vintage is even better?
Well, Lecaillon declared the 2008 to be the “the Cristal of Cristals” when it was launched. For me, it still remains the finest Cristal I have tasted to date, even if only by a whisker, and I fully understand at this level that personal preference plays a crucial role, try as we might to set it aside.
Lecaillon has now described 2013 as “2008 plus” and the “the Cristal of Cristalssssss.” If 2018 is as good as reports suggest, Lecaillon might be in real strife when it is released. He has described the 2013 as “50 percent chalk, 50 percent sunshine.” For him, 2012 was more on the sunshine side and 2008 was more on the soil/chalk side.
Vuosikerta 2013
The Champagne harvest 2013– late, but potentially outstanding
It has been another strange year for Champagne, starting with a cold, wet winter, followed by a gloomy, chilly spring with a lot of rain. Vine development started two weeks behind the ten-year average, and never made up for that lost time.
Along the way came a hot dry summer, boosting fruit quality thanks to the most sunshine ever recorded in Champagne in July and August.
Rain came from 6 September onwards, which helped to fatten the berries - then fortunately stopped in time to allow good conditions for final ripening. Considering the lateness of the harvest, the weather this year was exceptionally good – almost summer-like with unusually warm temperatures and sunshine, and a wind from the east to help keep the grapes healthy.
It was a year of big differences in the timing of the harvest, with picking in the most precocious plots starting on 24 September and in the slower-ripening areas on 9 October. Most plots commenced harvesting in the first days of October – the latest start date seen in Champagne for two decades.
Bearing in mind the economic situation, Champagne's governing body has set the yield limit at 10,000 kilos per hectare. Most crus should achieve this yield, excepting only a few that were partially affected by millerandage (shot berries), hailstorms and botrytis.
An average potential alcohol of nearly 10% ABV and good acidity averaging around 8.5g H2SO4 per litre together suggest a promising balance for the eventual wine. The Champenois are already drawing favourable comparisons with the vintages of 1983, 1988 and 1998 – these too being the product of late harvests.
