Champagne Louis Roederer - Champagne - Cristal - Magnum - Blanc - 2008

Wine:

Forged by time and a chalky soil unique in the world, the 2008 white Champagne Cristal is now, after more than fifteen years of waiting, eternally youthful. The wine bears the concentration of a continental year with a fiery climatology, an intense allure, all restrained power. Carried along by a jagged, sovereignly natural body, it unfurls notes of white fruit, candied citrus and toasted almond that mingle and follow one another in a long ribbon. And if there's a Cristal to cellar for decades to come, it's this incredible 2008, at once intense, complex, with enormous energy and intensity. The chalky force is masterfully channeled here, with fruit sparkling with subtle nuances, enlivened by saline purity. It's a perfected work of goldsmith's art, which is as impressive today as it will be for the next thiry years. Reserved for patient connoisseurs only! Rated 98/100 by Parker and 100/100 by RVF!

Vinification:

Hand harvested. Blend from the Grands Crus of Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne and Côte des Blancs, 20% vinified in wood. 20% malolactic fermentation. Aged for 8 years in bottle, then rested for a minimum of 8 months after disgorging. Dosage: 8 g/l (Brut).

Color:

Amber with green and orange highlights, fine, regular and dynamic bubbles.

Nose:

Complex, intense bouquet of candied citrus, white fruit, Williams pear, pollen and toasted almond. The delicate charm of an intense, precise, chiseled bouquet.

Palate:

Impressive palate, both full-bodied and tight. The material is present but takes on a particular form in 2008: it's not the sun that has concentrated this material, almost saline, but the dryness of the chalk during a summer marked by cool temperatures. The result is a tactile, almost liqueur-like sensation that really rolls off the palate, at once powerful and soft, and continues with an incredible finish of freshness and an impression of absolute purity, taut and ultra-saline.

Temperature:

Serve between 10 and 12°C.

Food and wine pairing:

Aperitif with caviar blinis or salmon roe, shellfish, slipper lobster or grilled lobster, salt-crusted sea bass, capon stuffed with morels or poultry demi-deuil, infinite combinations...

Cellar aging:

From now until 2050 and beyond for enthusiasts.

Pivot of Champagne excellence, 3 stars in the RVF Guide, the Louis Roederer Champagne House embodies more than any other the highest degree of civilization of these sparkling wines. 

Having turned to organic and biodynamic farming over the past twenty years, and involved in an insatiable quest for perfection, the House of Reims has today achieved an absolute that is embodied in its emblematic wine, Cristal, one of Champagne's finest success stories. 

A jewel of the House, once made for Tsar Alexander II, Cristal is certainly the world's most famous Champagne wine, a cult cuvée that's virtually impossible to ignore.