Louis Roederer Cristal 2015

If the 2014 vintage was especially open and demonstrative, the 2015 Cristal is going to require more patience. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of citrus oil, crisp stone fruits, white flowers, crushed mint and subtle hints of buttery pastry, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, with a deep, concentrated and rather introverted core of fruit framed by chalky extract and animated by a pretty pinpoint mousse. This is a serious, vinous Champagne that has considerable substance to age and may well evolve along the lines of the lovely 1985.

For the warm and dry vintage this has tremendous freshness and elegance. The complex nose of citrus blossom, mint, lemon and lime zest opens up slowly as this aerates in the glass. The wine’s ample structure is still quite firm, which is a vintage characteristic, the mousse very fine but also very lively for an eight-year-old champagne. Cristal fans will love this as it is, but a year or two more in the bottle will do a lot for the very long mineral finish of this youthful masterpiece. A cuvee of 60% pinot noir and 40% chardonnay, picked from all 45 Cristal vineyard plots. Tasted at the Cristal vertical tasting at the champagne house on July 6th, 2023. Drink from release.

Every glass of wine is a story and when it comes to the Cristal, the story is being continually added to with every vintage.

In a recent conversation with Roederer’s Cellar Master Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon, I asked him where the intersection of art and science lay for him as he often waxes lyrical about poetry and art as much as the making of the wine itself. You may have learned from my previous reviews that I too tend to get very whimsical and poor Gary gets blamed for my talk of couture dresses and all things diaphanous or sparkly. Jean-Baptiste said that the vineyard was planted the same year that Baudelaire composed Les Fleurs du Mal. Baudelaire always insisted that the collection was not a “simple album” but had “a beginning and an end,” each poem revealing its full meaning only when read in relation to the others within the “singular framework” in which it is placed. I think that Cristal carries some of that with it, each vintage is its own piece but also tells a story when placed alongside the other vintages. It also tells the tale of the world around it, grapes, vineyard management, climate change and more all become woven into the tapestry of the wine.