Roederer/Louis Brut Champagne Cristal 2008

100 points Jeb Dunnuck: "The 2008 Cristal is a perfect wine, and Champagne simple does not get any better. This incredible wine offers a beautiful perfume of clean, crisp fruits, layers of complexity in its toasted spice and white flowers, and an utterly seamless, yet powerful style on the palate. This is a rich, decadent expression of Cristal yet it’s still crystalline and elegant, with no sensation of weight, and it just glides over the palate. Haut Couture at its finest and this majestic, profound, legendary Cristal can be drunk anytime over the coming 2-3 decades. (12/13/18)"

100 points James Suckling: "OMG. A masterpiece. A benchmark. Tight and structured, with fantastic precision and structure. Sharp line of acidity throughout, with fine and tight bubbles. Pineapple, lemon, white apricot, seashell, biscuit, blanched almond and a hint of chamomile. Vertical and mineral. Dosage 7g/L. Special release in magnum and aged two or three years longer on the lees than the normal bottling. I can’t go higher than this. Even better in a few years. (7/11/22)"

100 points (20/20)/'Le Coup de Coeur,' La Revue du Vin de France: "The three Cristal cuvées are a real hit, as they climb to the top of the Champagne region. The 2008 white and rosé require patience to wait, as there is so much energy and tension that must be channeled. (2020)"

100 points Wine Enthusiast: "This latest incarnation of the famous brand is a superb wine. It is on par with, maybe even better than, the already legendary 2002. Its balance is impeccable: Apple and citrus flavors working with the tight minerality to give a textured yet fruity wine. Produced from Roederer's own vineyards which are mainly biodynamic, the wine has its own intense purity and crispness. It has amazing potential and is likely to age for many years. Drink from 2020. Cellar Selection. Alcohol 12%. (Dec 2017)"

99 points John Gilman (View From the Cellar): "It has been nearly five years since I last tasted the 2008 vintage of Cristal and the passage of time has quietly been working its magic on this great vintage. As readers may recall, the 2008 vintage was one of the rare examples of Cristal where a portion of the vins clairs for this bottling actually underwent malolactic fermentation, as twenty percent of the still wines in the blend went through malo. The cépages of the 2008 ended up being sixty percent pinot noir and forty percent chardonnay, and twenty percent of the vins clairs also ended up being barrel-fermented in this year. It was the first vintage of Cristal to ever receive a full decade of aging sur latte prior to disgorgement and was finished with a dosage of 7.5 grams per liter. At age sixteen, the wine is just starting to really drink generously, offering up a beautifully complex bouquet of apple, pear, warm bread, almond, a gorgeous base of chalky soil tones, caraway seed, fruit blossoms and a lovely topnote of citrus zest. On the palate the wine is pure, precise, deep and full, with seamless balance, a great spine of acidity, beautifully ripe fruit at the core, elegant mousse and a long, complex and vibrant finish. I love the synthesis here of precisely ripe fruit and the great energy and girdle of acidity that defines the very finest wines from the 2008 vintage in Champagne! 2024-2075+. (Sep/Oct 2024)"

99 points Yohan Castaing (Decanter) (Nov 2019).

99 points Antonio Galloni (Vinous) (Dec 2019).

99 points Jasper Morris, MW.