
CHAMPAGNE LOUIS ROEDERER CRISTAL BRUT ROSE 2014
CHAMPAGNE LOUIS ROEDERER CRISTAL BRUT ROSE 2014
97pts Wine Advocate
Roederer's 2014 Cristal Rosé has turned out beautifully, unwinding in the glass with aromas of sweet cherries, almonds, citrus fruit and red berries mingled with notions of white flowers and wet chalk. Full-bodied, fleshy and enveloping, with a layered core of fruit and a pillowy mousse, it's deep, racy and electric, concluding with a long, mineral finish. Comparatively open out of the gates, it's no slight to the 2014's seriousness to say that it will drink well while its 2013 counterpart sleeps in the cellar. Deriving from just a handful of the over 39 blocks that inform the regular Cristal 2014, I suspect that its origins have even more to do with the extra dimension it possesses above and beyond its white counterpart than the subtle infusion of Pinot Noir phenolics that give it its delicate pink hue. Drinking Window: 2023 - 2045
As I've written before, Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon never seems to rest on his laurels. Roederer is already one of the region's leaders in farming, having committed, two decades ago, to a plan that most other grandes marques are only now beginning to emulate—an evolution outlined in more detail in the March 2020 Week 1 Issue of The Wine Advocate, to which I refer readers looking for more insights into this house's methodology. On my latest visit to Reims, we looked at the new Blanc de Blancs, the latest Cristal Rosé and the new release of Brut Collection, Roederer's reimagined non-vintage Brut, which now embraces the base vintage rather than trying to efface it, accepting variation from iteration to iteration.
97pts Wine Enthusiast
The epitome of great rosé Champagne, this is beautifully intense. The fruit and balanced mineral edge are united with mature red-currant flavors in a wine that is perfectly aged. It is an impressive wine that is ready to drink.