THE PRODUCER
The largest family-owned Champagne house with a wealth of owned vineyards
(nearly 250ha) two-thirds of which are Grand Cru. But the revolution of Roederer
is initially in the vineyard with organic and biodynamic principles spreading
across the holdings. Chef de cave Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon has steered Roederer
through this learning curve for twenty years introducing changes in the
vineyards and adopting an approach he calls “a la carte winemaking” in the
cellar.

All wines from vintage level up are now made from estate fruit and even the
non-vintage wine exceeds 50% ensuring the quality desired throughout the range.
The aim is for full ripeness to ensure a clear expression of each vineyard
before the blending process begins. Louis Roederer may have lagged behind its
reputation last century but is now at the forefront of Champagne houses with a
continual philosophy of further improvement which shows in all wines from
non-vintage to the prestige Cuvee Cristal.

THE WINE
Renowned for its clear bottle and golden cellophane wrapper to prevent
gout-de-lumiere,Cristal is one of the most renowned and admired prestige cuvees.
For many years it was the earliest prestige release but age on lees has
increased to six or seven years, depending on vintage. Despite this, the tight,
reductive style often demands further aging in bottle, and occasionally very
small quantities are re-released. Produced from the finest, and oldest, estate
vineyards Cristal seems to get better and better.

INFORMATION
Type:SparklingVintage:2015Country:FranceRegion:ChampagneSub Region:VintageGrape:
60% Pinot Noir & 40% ChardonnayStyle:Complex and TraditionalSweetness:BrutABV:
12.5%Drinking window:2024 - 2050Size:750mlFood match:Shellfish, Crab and Lobster


CRITICS SCORES
We choose our wines based on a range of criteria(seehow we choose our wines)of
which critic scores is justone. Rather than simply highlight the best score to
promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided
by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do
not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more
weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores
like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a92/100average critic score or
better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a
high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we
offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the
market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and
representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide
to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add
individual critic scores to our website in the future.