2008 Louis Roederer "Cristal" Brut Champagne

“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. (JD)” (12/2018)

“One of the masterpieces of this exceptional vintage (the last that was this cool). Ravishing nose of Amalfi lemon and white peach with hints of white chocolate, chamomile and oyster shell. Super-elegant and tightly structured with a hint of creaminess on the mid-palate adding tension. Very long steely finish carried by the linear mineral acidity. A cuvée of 60% pinot noir and 40% chardonnay, part of which (unusually for Cristal) underwent malolactic fermentation. Getting very scarce on the secondary market, partly because of the great aging potential!” (07/2023)

“This latest incarnation of the famous brand is a superb wine. It is on par with, maybe even better than, the already legendary 2002. Its balance is impeccable: Apple and citrus flavors working with the tight minerality to give a textured yet fruity wine. Produced from Roederer's own vineyards which are mainly biodynamic, the wine has its own intense purity and crispness. It has amazing potential and is likely to age for many years. *Ranked #5 Top 100 Cellar Selections 2017* (RV)” (12/2017)

“A sublime Champagne from Cristal from the famous and much praised 2008 vintage, which Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon calls a ‘dry and cool year that was a replay of 1996’. ‘The 2008s are so good because all the cellar masters learnt from 1996 - we adapted,’ he said during the masterclass in New York. Sharp, tangy, seriously mouthwatering, direct and compelling with tension at the very beginning that slowly expands and widens as the flavours relax in the mouth. Brioche, toasty notes on the nose with just-ripe green and yellow fruit aromas. Great energy and confidence on show, with hints of white chocolate that offset the low pH and high acidity. Pure and expressive, this is a wine that really gives the emotion with flavour that just lasts and lasts in the mouth full of red berries and chalkiness. Simply divine. (GH)” (06/2023)

“It has been nearly five years since I last tasted the 2008 vintage of Cristal and the passage of time has quietly been working its magic on this great vintage. As readers may recall, the 2008 vintage was one of the rare examples of Cristal where a portion of the vins clairs for this bottling actually underwent malolactic fermentation, as twenty percent of the still wines in the blend went through malo. The cépages of the 2008 ended up being sixty percent pinot noir and forty percent chardonnay, and twenty percent of the vins clairs also ended up being barrel-fermented in this year. It was the first vintage of Cristal to ever receive a full decade of aging sur latte prior to disgorgement and was finished with a dosage of 7.5 grams per liter. At age sixteen, the wine is just starting to really drink generously, offering up a beautifully complex bouquet of apple, pear, warm bread, almond, a gorgeous base of chalky soil tones, caraway seed, fruit blossoms and a lovely topnote of citrus zest. On the palate the wine is pure, precise, deep and full, with seamless balance, a great spine of acidity, beautifully ripe fruit at the core, elegant mousse and a long, complex and vibrant finish. I love the synthesis here of precisely ripe fruit and the great energy and girdle of acidity that defines the very finest wines from the 2008 vintage in Champagne!” (10/2024)

“Wine maker Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon reckons this is his best Cristal to date, and I’m rather inclined to agree with him! Cristal has been on a role since the classical 2002 vintage, Jean-Baptiste has been “tweaking” the Cristal formula, making small adjustments that have clearly paid dividends. A dazzling combination of precision, finesse and immediate complexity, the 2008 vintage Cristal is just astonishing. A wine that is almost impossible to describe (unless we want to start a game of fruit bingo), the vanilla dusted fruit is suave and sophisticated, gliding seamlessly along the palate. Intense and weightless at the same time, with mid-palate weight and a phenomenally long finish, this wine is lacking in no area. A Champagne that will age effortlessly for decades to come. Only the first time I’ve scored a wine 99/100 on potential, and I’ve yet to taste the magnum.” (02/2020)

“The 2008 Cristal is just fabulous. Chiseled and nuanced to the core, the 2008 possesses dazzling intensity from start to finish. Crushed rocks, lemon peel, graphite, mint, lime, chalk and white flowers all race across the palate. This is classic Cristal in a cool, late-ripening year. (AG)” (11/2024)

“The 2008 'Cristal' Champagne is an absolutely magical effort from cellar master Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon, who has crafted a simply dazzling wine from this sensational vintage. Composed of 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay the 2008 was bottle-aged for 8 years before being left to rest for at least 8 months after disgorging. This beautiful Champagne begins with highly perfumed aromatics, offering a gorgeous combination of musty and earthy tones up front, followed by white truffle shavings, peat moss, brioche and bright pear nuances that complete the exotic nose. Streamlined throughout, this shows incredible precision and clarity, as well as an unmistakable a seamless quality that makes it nearly impossible to resist. It goes on to impress with its incredible verve and energy, as well as racy acidity, which is all underlined by a remarkable saline character that echos through the palate. This continues to deliver an outstanding combination of weight and effervescence as flavors of Asian pear, marzipan, Marcona almond and kumquat all come together to delight the senses. The 2008 is truly one of the most compelling releases that I’ve ever had the opportunity to taste from this house. (OB)” (03/2019)

“Disgorged in September 2017 with 7.5 grams per liter dosage, the 2008 Cristal was produced from 37 of the 45 parcels that are candidates for inclusion in this cuvée—some 40% of which were farmed organically back in 2008—and it's a blend of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay. The finest young Cristal in decades, the wine wafts from the glass with a pure and vibrant bouquet of crisp orchard fruit, clear honey, warm brioche, citrus zest and white flowers. On the palate, it's full-bodied, intense and incisive, with superb concentration, racy acids and a long, searingly chalky finish. Pristinely balanced, there are some 500,000 bottles of this legend-in-the-making. (WK)” (03/2020)

“There's a sense of focus and vibrancy to the overall structure, while the palate is all grace and charm. A fine, lacy texture carries a tapestry of ripe white cherry, toast point, blood orange zest, honey and ground ginger notes, with a minerally, mouthwatering finish. A stunning Champagne with a long future ahead of it. (AN)” (11/2018)

“An ultra-elegant, pure and already highly complex nose speaks of yeast, brioche, Meyer lemon, quinine and green apple. There is equally excellent depth to the utterly delicious and highly sophisticated flavors where the supporting effervescence is very firm yet quite fine while the strikingly long if compact finish makes it crystal clear (pun intended) that this beauty is definitely built for the long haul. I was very impressed with this though with that said, I would observe that it's presently so firm that at least another 5 years of cellaring will be necessary before this begins to unwind. In a word, excellent.” (10/2019)

“Disgorged in 2020, dosage 8 g/l. 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, 20% of the cuvée is fermented in oak. 11 years spent on the lees. Very difficult growing season but great wines with lots of acidity, according to Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon. ‘Very like the 1996 season, but we didn’t pick too early in 2008 – unlike in 1996.’ This was the start of Louis Roederer’s biodynamic journey, when the biodynamic fruit represented 40% of the blend. Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon’s benchmark vintage. Very complex and layered with real magic. Stunning with something floral. Really gorgeous. 19/20 points (JR)” (11/2021)