Some things are absolute; Louis Roederer’s Cristal, for instance. Despite being overused, cliched, hackneyed even, Keats’ line, “beauty is truth, truth beauty” came involuntarily to mind at a dinner to mark the release of the 2004 Cristal Vinothèque at the Ritz in Paris on a late-September night.
Louis Roederer CEO, Frédéric Rouzaud, said, “A more mature Cristal is a homage to time, because we give the luxury of time to this wine. We are a family that understands the importance of time. It is also a homage to patience, to precision. It is a homage to this estate, which over time has revealed all the depth, energy, and purity of this wine.” While these words are superlative and celebratory, they are not overblown, as both the white and pink 2004 Cristal were marvels of youth, of freshness, of facetted, layered beauty.
Cellar master Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon referenced the grands crus of the Montagne de Reims and the Côte de Blancs, the ridges that stretched like fingers across the landscape and offered a multitude of expositions. He spoke of the thin topsoils in these grands crus where vines of at least 20 years of age were “anchored” in the “very poor mother rock” with its “elevated pH level” that holds a lot of water. This, he says, means that “vines don’t suffer but they do not grow much because there is not much to consume.” High-density plantings and low yields per vine clearly contribute to the extraordinary Cristal wines. Lécaillon says they are “restrained, concentrated, and they can age eternally. Cristal is the child of chalk. Cristal is finesse, it is elegance, it is concentration, it also is matière invisible [invisible matter],” which only reveals itself over time. It is the signature of the chalk. Making it is intuitive, empirical.”
Lécaillon also spoke about the cool and dry growing season in 2004, with its rainy August that was saved by a sunny and dry September. Having always honed his ideas through this expression of Cristal, Lécaillon said: “After 20 years, you arrive at a wine that is not only rich, ample, gastronomic, but still has the purity of chalk.” How right he is. These wines are like time capsules; luminous, fresh, nuanced, disarming, and deeply moving.
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Tasting
2004 Cristal Vinothèque
57% Pinot Noir from Verzenay, Verzy, Beaumont-sur-Vesle, and Aÿ; 43% Chardonnay from Avize, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, and Cramant. The fruit was picked between September 20 and October 13, 2004, and the base wines did not undergo malolactic conversion. The wine spent nine years aging sur lattes and five years sur pointes, before being disgorged and given 8g/l dosage and spending another six years in bottle before release.
A smoldering flintiness on the nose is astonishing, giving the impression of incredible youthfulness in the first few moments of smelling the wine. Little hints of evolution appear only slowly, with notions of smoky, briny oyster shell and lemon confit. The palate is super-sleek but expands into chalky depths, lemon-scented, with immense saltiness and the finest, tiniest bubbles. Somehow, the initial tautness just relaxes, melts into creaminess in a lasting and somehow deeply satisfying fashion that rings long. Sipped again, the wine’s precision and linearity become ever clearer, plumbing coolest, oceanic, chalky depths. Its sense of youthfulness is mind-boggling. | 98
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2004 Cristal Vinothèque Rosé
56% Pinot Noir from Aÿ and 44% Chardonnay from Avize and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. The fruit was picked between September 20 and October 13, 2004, and the base wines die not undergo malolactic conversion. The wine spent nine years aging sur lattes, then five years sur pointes, before being disgorged and given 8g/l dosage and spending another six years in bottle before release.
Creamy, smoky rose petals on the nose, slowly verge into the warm scent of fresh Genoese sponge. A moment later, the nose is all pink-veined, white peach, scented, and vivid. Aromas shimmer with quiet yet persistent intensity. It therefore comes as a surprise to find the palate so utterly weightless, so delicate and yet so profound. Salinity and chalk, citrus and Genoese sponge notions move like silk chiffon. When tasted again with salty food, a whole new dimension of fruitiness opens up, intrinsic, profound, always chalky, in a dazzling display of ageless beauty. | 98
