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Cristal 2008

Louis Roederer, Champagne, France

Louis Roederer
Champagne France
  • 100
    Points
  • The 31 best
    of 3 290 954
    wines globally
  • 39 Pros of
    40 recommend
    this wine
1121 100
  • Taste
  • Moment

  • Country ranking ?

    25

  • Producer ranking ?

    1

  • Decanting time

    20min

  • When to drink

    now to 2030

  • Food Pairing

    Salmon with a mild butter sauce

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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Jean-Baptise Lecaillon - ‘2008 Cristal is my best ever’

Champagne Roederer’s 2008 Cristal is the best in cellar master Jean-Baptise Lecaillon’s 30-year history with the house, he says.

Speaking to the drinks business at the official launch of the famous prestige cuvee’s 2008 vintage, Lecaillion said that it is “the most Cristal of Cristals; it represents exactly the vision we have of Cristal”.

The 2008 follows the release of the young...

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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 ...

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Wine Information

Cristal 2008 was bottle-aged for 8 years before being left to rest for at least 8 months after disgorging in order to attain perfect maturity.

Amber hue with green and orange tints. Fine, even and lively sparkle. Complex and intense bouquet disclosing candied citrus, yellow fruit, Williams pear, pollen, and toasted almond. The delicately seductive bouquet shows intensity and well-honed precision. The wine is powerful, full yet tight, on ent...

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Vintage 2008

2008 -The Champagne vintage set to make history!

A first taste of leading winemakers’ 2008 champagnes reveals a miraculous vintage, bubbling with potential, which – whisper it – might just prove the greatest in living memory.

2008 was not, by any standards, a vintage year for the financial world. And for the greater part of it, 2008 was a pretty poor year for Champagne too: spring was freezing, summer gloomy and overcast. But then, aroun...

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Tasting note

color

Deep, Green-Yellow and Clear

ending

Long, Gentle and Flavorful

flavors

Vanilla, Honey, Mineral, Steely, Tropical fruits and White fruits

nose

Youthful, Fresh, Pure and Opulent

recommend

Yes

taste

Average in Acidity, Concentrated, Perfectly balanced, Well-Integrated, Medium-bodied, Vigor, Elegant and Silky

Verdict

Intelligent and Excellent

Written Notes

Pale lemon yellow. Apples, lemons, minerals, nuanced, citrus and minerals, detailed, floral nose. Fresh acidity, elegant mousse, citrus, minerals, grilled lemons, sublime texture, with air just a bit creamy, just enough to cover up all the elements sublimely, extremely long. 99

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  • 99p

The 2008 Cristal is one of the most complete, most dazzling Champagnes I have ever tasted. A stunning wine from any and all perspectives, the 2008 simply has it all. Spherical in construction, with superb persistence. The 2008 takes hold of all the senses and never gives up. One of the many things that makes the 2008 special is a combination of ripe fruit and bright, piercing acidity. Marzipan, lemon confit, dried flowers and orchard fruit all build into the explosive, resonant finish. “We learned from the mistakes of 1996, when we picked more on acid than ripeness, as was the norm in Champagne back then” Chef de Caves Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon told me recently. “In 1996, the best fruit turned out to be the last picks, where the fruit was physiologically ripe. Today, we aim to pick all our fruit with that criteria.”

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  • 99p

16% malo, only on Pinot Noir from the Montagne de Reims. ‘There were lots of similarities with 1996, which gave us the possibility to replay the 1996 vintage! Maybe we picked 1996 a bit early so in 2008 we waited longer, by at least a week, than in 1996. Lots of tasting – far more than in 1996 when Roederer based picking only on analysis – and there was no malo in 1996.’ For the first time ever, they decided to release it later than the younger vintage, 2009 – so 2008 had nine years on lees. The last batch of 2008 will be disgorged in March 2019. (Scan the back label via the Roederer app to get the disgorgement year.) Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon is coy about the assemblage. ‘I’m looking for chalkiness.’ In 2008 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay, which reflects perfectly the balance of their plantings. 40% of the estate was biodynamic then.
Really dense nose with lots of evolution but still extreme freshness. Some apple-skin character. Bone dry but wonderful lift and freshness. Long and super-lively. Real undertow, but very racy on the nose. Lots to chew on. Really elegant!

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  • 98p

The 2008 Cristal is a perfect wine, and Champagne simple does not get any better. This incredible wine offers a beautiful perfume of clean, crisp fruits, layers of complexity in its toasted spice and white flowers, and an utterly seamless, yet powerful style on the palate. This is a rich, decadent expression of Cristal yet it’s still crystalline and elegant, with no sensation of weight, and it just glides over the palate. Haut Couture at its finest and this majestic, profound, legendary Cristal can be drunk anytime over the coming 2-3 decades.

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  • 100p

Disgorged October 2016 and will be the first Cristal to be released ten years from harvest when it is offered in 2018. 35 parcels used from a possible 45 in this vintage. The assemblage is 60% pinot noir and 40% chardonnay. This is so fresh and tense and mineral with extremely exuberant chardonnay notes on the nose of white peach, lemon and yellow grapefruit, and hints of almost brambly sous bois aromas. The yeast characters are also super fresh, and there are subtle woody notes, with a hint of vanilla bean and light spices. The palate is super long, and very pure, powerful and focused. It drives deep and taut. Pinot noir is a strong core and the chardonnay sits at the edge offering lemon and white nectarine sorbet flavors. Staggeringly concentrated, yet the balance makes it seem airy and light. Acidity is perfectly positioned, and the power is intense and long. This is an ultra precise Cristal, finishing with a mere suggestion of savoriness and warmth to come. Impressive on release, this will be at its best drinking from 2025.

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  • 100p

Tasted in August 2019 in Helsinki, Finland. One of the 20 champagnes tasted. Stylish, elegant, finesse, great complexity and fine aftertaste.

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  • 94p

Cristal 2008 / 100 points / Tight, hugely promising nose still with restraint. There is immaculat purity and radiance to the chalk and toast nuanced nose full of cool, crisp fruit and baking spices complexity. A lovely feather light feeling yet fruit packed palate of fabulous electric vivacity. The finish is so long and mineral with a chalky bite promising great longevity. A wine that puts a big smile on my face.

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  • 100p
Good looking normal size bottle and has by the neck level. Colour is yellow and deep. On the nose it is youthful, intense, seductive, fresh, pure and refined. The taste is vigor, focused, elegant, silky, fresh, full-bodied, with perfectly balanced, concentrated, well-structured and complex structure. On the palate it is layered and has steely, vanilla, white fruits, mineral, violet, honey, dried-fruit and tropical fruits flavours. The finish is long, flavorful, gentle and lingering. This wine is transparent, sophisticated, intelligent and excellent. I paid around 200-500€ a bottle. Perfectly stored bottles are still very worthy and will last well for another 20-30 years, decant at least 30min before tasting and this is not a good invest wine. Good value for money. I do recommend.
- (Tasting note created by Tb's AI)
  • 99p
Good looking normal size bottle, in an perfect condition and has by the neck level. Colour is green-yellow, and looking clear, bright and light. On the nose it is intense, youthful, opulent, fresh, generous and charming. The taste is full, rich, vigor, elegant, silky, and average in acidity, medium-bodied, with concentrated, well-integrated and multi-dimensional structure. On the palate it is layered and has citrus, steely, tropical fruits, truffles, vanilla, honey, apricot, white fruits and mineral flavours. The finish is long, gentle, extensive, lingering and flavorful. This wine is intelligent, excellent and masterpiece. I paid around 200-500€ a bottle. Perfectly stored bottles are still very worthy and will last well for another 10-15 years, decant at least 15min before tasting and not a good invest wine. Good value for money.
- (Tasting note created by Tb's AI)
  • 99p
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Information

Origin

Reims, Champagne

Vintage Quality

Outstanding

Value For Money

Very good

Investment potential

Good

Fake factory

None

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Inside Information

The Cuvée Cristal is the emblem of the prestigious Louis Roederer Champagne House. It is one of the most famous and exceptional cuvées in the world that is only produced when the expression of a vintage deserves to be immortalised.

After 10 years of ageing in the cool, dark chalk cellars of the House, the Cristal 2008 reveals a burst of purity and harmony.

Born from the greatest limestone terroirs, Louis Roederer's Cristal 2008 brings together the Grands Crus from the Montagne de Reims, the Marne Valley and the Côte des Blancs in a sumptuous blend of Pinot Noir (60%) and Chardonnay (40%).

The Cristal 2008 represents all the typicity of its vintage that is unique and reflective of the Roederer style. From a dry, but cool year, exceptional density and power represent the 2008 vintage to give a perfect combination of concentration and freshness.

In a perfectly harmonious complexity, the Cristal 2008 reveals an intense bouquet in which candied citrus aromas give way to the indulgent pear and almond notes that are enhanced with toasty aromas. However, it is the palate that shows all the splendour of the Crystal 2008. With great power, the attack delivers all the strength of the limestone terroir that gives depth and a saline concentration, which testifies to the chalk from the terroir. The sensations from the first sip reveal an inimitable structure that embraces the palate with sweet liqueur flavours. The mouthfeel stretches beautifully until a finish full of freshness that leaves a lingering and delicious saline impression.

With the Cristal 2008, Louis Roederer represents the elaboration of one of the greatest masterpieces of the House similar to the excellent 2002 vintage. The Cristal 2008 is the perfection of Champagne.

 

Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon and the team at Louis Roederer decided to release the very fine 2009 Cristal ahead of the more racy 2008 version, and this seems to have been a very good idea, as this decision has allowed the 2008 version to rest comfortably in the cellars for an additional year or two. In fact, the 2008 Cristal will be the first vintage of this wine to be released ten years out from the vintage. This is not the only exceptional aspect of the 2008 Cristal, as this is one of the very, very few vintages of this iconic wine that has included a small percentage of vins clairs that have gone through malolactic fermentation, as Monsieur Lécaillon observed that sixteen percent of the blend in 2008 is composed of wines that went through malo. The results are magical, as this small part of the blend that has undergone malolactic fermentation seems to have rounded off the snappy acids of 2008 a bit and given the wine an unprecedented textural accessibility out of the blocks that was not found in a similarly racy vintage like 1996, which was tensile and hermetically sealed when first released. Twenty percent of the vins clairs for the 2008 Cristal were barrel-fermented and the wine was finished with a dosage of 7.5 grams per liter. The wine is flat out stunning, offering up a pure and youthfully complex bouquet of apple, lemon, warm brioche, stunningly complex, chalky minerality, a touch of orange zest, fresh almond and a floral topnote redolent of lemon blossoms and mimosa. On the palate the wine is deep, fullbodied, complex and utterly seamless in its balance, with a great core, laser-like focus, utterly refined mousse and a very, very long, racy, complex and seamlessly balanced finish. This is a breathtakingly beautiful wine in the making! It is approachable today, but like all vintages of Cristal, the 2008 really deserves at least another decade in the cellar before starting to drink it with abandon. Disgorged September 2017. 2028-2095+

Score: 99John Gilman, View From the Cellar (74), May 2018

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