Late release ‘Cristal of Cristals’ launched by Champagne Louis Roederer in milestone year
At a lavish event in Reims last week to mark the 250th anniversary of Champagne Louis Roederer, the house launched a late-release of its prestige cuvée Cristal from “the reference” 2008 vintage.
Using dancers accompanied by music from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (see video below), the first showing of this long-lees aged expression from Louis Roederer was brought up from the cellars at the maison’s hq in Reims, where 650 guests had gathered to celebrate the milestone year for the marque.
Announcing the arrival of this Champagne, Louis Roederer cellar master Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon called the 2008 cuvée “the Cristal of Cristals”, as guests were served both the blanc and rosé expressions of this second release, with the first Cristal 2008 hitting high-end retailers in the UK in June 2018 – exactly 8 years ago.
A pinnacle expression
When db met with Lecaillon the following day, he explained why he had made the statement, pointing out that the 2008 harvest produced wines that perfectly matched his vision of Cristal’s style and quality.
In his view, this vintage represents a pinnacle of the prestige cuveé since it was first introduced 150 years ago – created in 1876 at the behest of Alexander II of Russia, with the rosé version appearing in 1974.
Grace and power
In an exclusive interview, he told db, “We have a stylistic idea of Cristal in our mind, which is about elegance and fineness, but power as well, with a saline finish.”
Continuing, he said that one might compare Cristal to a ballerina, “because their movements are graceful, but they are athletes, with a lot of muscle”.
This idea of power and grace is, in Lécaillon’s words, “what we aim for in Cristal, and this wine had it all from the beginning… everything was in place.”
More texture
Indeed, he said, “If anyone wants to understand Cristal”, they need to try the 2008, calling it “the reference”, before adding that with extra time ageing on its lees in Louis Roederer’s cellars, it has been “filled with more texture”.
Notably, for the late-release, Lécaillon not only extends the time spent ageing on the lees but also performs poignetage (shaking the bottles) to re-suspend the lees “to make sure we liberate all the amino acids from the dead yeast cells, which gives us magic saline elements and umami flavours – so it’s not just about ageing for longer,” he said of the Champagne.
Characterised by a cool growing season balanced by dry, sunny conditions in September, 2008 yielded wines with ripe fruit yet remarkable freshness, and, as a result, great longevity.
When the prestige cuvée’s first expression was released eight years ago, Lécaillon told db, “This year will be my 30th harvest at Roederer and the 2008 is my best Cristal ever on the market.”
The most Cristal of Cristals
He added back then, “It is the most Cristal of Cristals; it represents exactly the vision we have of Cristal,” before noting that, after a cool summer, he waited as long as possible to pick the grapes to ensure the phenolics were fully ripe.
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For the initial expression, Lécaillon kept the Champagne on its lees for two years longer than usual, while employing a touch more oak for the fermentations – “to give some sweetness” – as well as allowing a higher proportion of the wines to undergo malo-lactic fermentation – the maison generally blocks the conversion of malic to lactic acid in its wines.
“We allowed 16% of the wines to go through the malo in 2008,” he said.
Less sugar, more oak
A further first for the 2008 Cristal concerns the dosage, which was, at the time of its first release, the lowest ever added to the prestige cuvée. “We are less than 8g/l, which we have never done before,” he said, having brought this final addition of sugar down from 9-10g/l in recent history, and 12gl in the 80s.
As for the second, ‘late-release’ expression unveiled this month, he said that the extra period of maturation had allowed Cristal to become “a wine of pleasure”.
Both the rosé and blanc late-release 2008 were disgorged in March 2022 after 13 years on the lees and given an 8g/l dosage.
A four-stage release programme
Explaining the rationale behind Champagne Louis Roederer’s decision to release the same vintage of Cristal at different stages of its development, he told db.
“The original release is a wine of potential; it is fresh, vibrant and chalky,” be began, adding, “Cristal is made to age forever, as it is necessary that is restrained on release, like a Chevalier-Montrachet in a recent vintage,” referring to fine white Burgundy, which is released in its youth, but made to cellar for several years.
Continuing he said, “Then the late release is a wine of pleasure that is more ready; a wine to drink and enjoy.”
Beyond this, there is a third stage in Cristal’s release programme, which is called Vinothèque, which sees the prestige cuvée spend at least two decades ageing, with around 10 years sur lattes and a further 10 years post disgorgement.
Lécaillon commented, “Then we have the wine of complexity, which is Vinothèque.”
Notably, he let db know of a further proposed expression for the prestige cuvée.
“Now we are working on a fourth expression of Cristal, which is in the cellar, and will be revealed in a few years time as another dimension of Cristal,” he said.
When asked for more information on this future fourth release of Cristal, he would not drawn on what it would be, but said, “It’s different; another angle, but you will have to wait to find out.”
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