Article: Cristal Blanc & Cristal Rose
Cristal Blanc & Cristal Rose
There’s just something magical about a magnum of Champagne. I was at lunch the other day when someone reminded me of the famous Winston Churchill quote—and it hit perfectly as I thought back to the magnum Faun and I enjoyed recovering after Thanksgiving festivities (yes, as Faun also queried, she is the “gentleman” not drinking). Soooo, as I was saying, it felt like the ideal bottle.
With any great bottle, they never seem to last long enough. Just as they’re hitting their stride, you look down and suddenly… it’s gone.
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As I’ve written many times, I absolutely love what Roederer is doing right now. My visit to their facility in Reims a couple of years ago completely changed my perspective about how they operate. With the precision and attention to detail you’d expect from someone farming four hectares, you have to remind yourself they operate 170. The forward-thinking choices they made twenty years ago are only now showing their full impact. The results speak for themselves: the wines have never been better!!
Today’s offer is admittedly a bit selfish. I noticed our Los Angeles distributor had several Cristal magnums available, and after recently finishing a 750ml of the 2012, I knew I needed some for my own cellar. Then I spotted something even more exciting—magnums of the 2013 Cristal Rosé, a wine I genuinely believe to be one of the greatest Cristal Rosés ever produced! I’ve had it several times from 750ml and was left utterly speechless each time. It has everything: depth, richness, nuance, and a seamless, energetic finish.
And you don’t have to take my word for it—both Galloni and William Kelley echo that sentiment. Plus a reminder below about why you want a Magnum
A Champagne of rare brilliance—luminous, precise, and driven by vibrant red fruit, citrus blossom, and chalky minerality. It walks the line between delicacy and power, finishing with crystalline clarity. Very few rosés in the world can match its elegance.
I’d put this in a footrace against the legendary 2008 any day. It may not have gotten the early hype, but after drinking several over the past year, I can say with confidence: this is a special wine. Expansive, layered, endlessly complex—ripe orchard fruit, toasted hazelnut, and saline minerality all come together in a Champagne that is both opulent and perfectly balanced. Built for the long haul, it will evolve beautifully for decades.
For the true connoisseur, a magnum isn’t just a larger bottle—it’s an entirely different experience. The slower evolution of this format brings even greater harmony, depth, and longevity. And of course, it delivers undeniable presence at the table. A magnum embodies patience, celebration, and reward.
These are unquestionably expensive wines, but for the Champagne connoisseur seeking the very best—it simply does not get better. Both are in stock, and both come in their original gift boxes.
The 2012 Cristal is another absolutely stellar wine this flight of recent releases. Rich, vinous and beautifully textured, the 2012 has been nothing short of magnificent on the three occasions I have tasted it so far. In the glass, the 2012 is radiant and luscious, yet it possesses remarkable transparency and striking aromatic depth. Light tropical notes develop in the glass, giving the 2012 a real feeling of exotic beauty. The 2012 is the first vintage of Cristal done with 100% organically-farmed fruit, an approach introduced gradually starting with the 2007 that has profoundly changes Cristal, especially in its aromatic breadth. Two thousand twelve is the vintage where endless trials and experiments in farming and winemaking are fully realized. The 2012 is just stunning. It’s as simple as that. Dosage is just over 7 grams per liter, the lowest it has even been for Cristal. Â
- Vinous Media, 98
Aromas of clear honey, crisp green orchard fruit, white peach, pastry cream and dried white flowers introduce the 2012 Cristal, a full-bodied, concentrated and powerful wine that's built for the cellar. Broader, more textural and more muscular than the 2008 Cristal, with seemingly even greater reserves of structuring dry extract, the 2012 is incisive and searingly chalky. This is the first Cristal produced exclusively from organically farmed fruit, and it marks the opening of a new chapter for Louis Roderer. The blend is 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, vinified without malolactic fermentation and disgorged with 7.5 grams per liter dosage. Chef de Caves Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon has once again excelled himself.Â
-Â William Kelley, 97
The 2013 Cristal RosĂ© from Louis Roederer is one of the most complete wines to be found in Champagne in this vintage, so utterly pure and precise that I would run the risk of exhausting superlatives trying to express its clarity. Displaying a pale hue, it soars from the glass with a bouquet of kaleidoscopic complexity, featuring notes of tangerine zest, raspberry and rose petals mingling with peeled almonds and spices. Enjoyed from magnum, disgorged in February 2024, the wine’s persistent palate offers a bright, vibrant core of fruit, refined mousse and fine-boned structure, with racy and fresh acidity and a long, chalky finish. “With 2013, I was confident from day one, which was not the case with 2008,” recalls Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon, and the result in the glass precludes any argument about it—the 2013 Cristal RosĂ© is a wine that’s structurally complete, deep and multifaceted, even more spectacular than the white 2013 Cristal. When I asked William Kelley why he gave 99 points to 2013 if he rated the 2008 Cristal RosĂ© with 100, he for a moment insisted to me that it was the other way around. Â
- Wine Advocate, 100
Tasted from magnum, the 2013 Cristal Rosé is ravishing. Dense, creamy and powerful, the 2013 captures all the qualities of the vintage, specifically the interplay of rich fruit from the warm summer and cooler inflections from a year that started late and ended late with a rare October harvest. Today, the 2013 is deep and beautifully seamless, but it is also young - far too young to be at its best. Dosage is 6.5 grams per liter, a bit less than for the standard bottlings, a decision taken to balance longer aging on the lees and a bit more residual sugar that is always left in the magnums after fermentation. Readers who can find the 2013 in magnum will experience one of the greatest thrills in wine.
- Vinous Media, 99
