Cristal Rosé 2013 & Cristal 2012 (Blanc) - MAGNUMS -
There was a moment when Roederer’s image started drifting — when the brand was synonymous with bottle service and conspicuous consumption.
Instead of chasing the hype, Roederer went underground — literally. While others scaled up production, they went the opposite direction: toward organics, biodynamics, and vineyard-level precision that would make a 4-hectare grower blush. All under the quiet, steady vision of Chef de Caves Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon.
I visited the Reims facility last year, and honestly? It rewired my brain. What they're doing at scale << massal selection, soil health, biodiversity, micro-parcels >> feels more Burgundy than big-brand Champagne. And they’ve been at it for over 20 years.
Champagne is slow work. But the results are showing! The 2012 vintage marked their first certified organic harvest. The wine is stunning — a seamless tension between richness and minerality, power and elegance. The 2013 Rosé? Possibly the finest example of the wine produced to date and one of the finest Champagnes you will ever drink - Pure crystalline energy, with depth that only the greatest vineyards in Champagne can produce.
Take advantage to acquire two of Louis Roederer most compelling wines available in rare Magnum formats. These are reference point wines and not to be missed! In Stock Friday.
Widely considered one of the finest vintages of the century, Cristal 2012 is expansive, layered, and endlessly complex. Notes of ripe orchard fruit, toasted hazelnut, and saline minerality weave together in a Champagne that is both opulent and perfectly balanced. Built for the long haul, it will continue to evolve gracefully for decades.
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.
- 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.
- William Kelley, 97
2013 Champagne Louis Roederer Cristal Rose 1.5ltr
For the true connoisseur, Champagne in magnum is not merely a larger bottle – it is a different experience altogether. The slower evolution in this grand format creates even greater harmony, depth, and longevity. Beyond the drama it brings to the table, a magnum is the purest expression of patience and reward
The 2013 Cristal Rosé 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 Rosé 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 Rosé with 100, he for a moment insisted to me that it was the other way around.
- 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
