Louis Roederer - Cristal 2006

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2006 Cristal shows rich and ripe (tropical) fruit on the nose along with delicate brioche notes. Round and textured on the palate, this is a generous but fresh, fine and salty Cristal with a very long and greatly finessed finish. Tasted in New York, November 2018.

During the Matter of taste event in New York, when we celebrated the 40th birthday of The Wine Advocate, I gave a Louis Roederer Cristal master class together with Roederer's chef de cave, Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon. This master class was a great chance to close some gaps in our database. Most of the wines had not yet been reviewed, and those that had been reviewed previously ended up receiving a higher score than right after the release. I did not write new reviews/tasting notes for on the vintages that we published only recently, but the vibrantly chalky and energetic 2008 Cristal is really on a great path.

Bettane et Desseauve

La Revue du Vin de France

Wine Enthusiast

Although it is still young, this vintage of Cristal promises great things. There's an impressive balance between ripe fruit and crisp acidity, rich and food friendly, but also a fine apéritif. Apricot and grapefruit flavors are round and rich, but with considerable minerality as well. This is a beautiful wine that can improve with age, at least through 2030.

Gismondi on Wine

If not a perfect year 2006 is consider at least good if not very good. Drinking Cristal now is crazy but for the purposes of assessment its a lot of fun. The nose is strikingly austere and with salty, mineral undertones. It's razor sharp from front to back with cleansing acidity and subtle bits of apricot, kiwi, and nutty almond notes. Needs a decade or more to really settle into its structure. With precision and poise, Owner Frederic Rouzaud explains that Cristal is made with one hundred percent estate fruit from old vines grown over chalk. The mix is 55/45 pinot noir and chardonnay and some 20 per cent is fermented in oak to bring some richness to a wine that sees no malolactic fermentation. In the time of the Czars the dosage was a high 100 grams of sugar per litre; today it runs between eight to ten grams. (Anthony Gismondi and Stuart Tobe).

Vinum Wine Magazine

Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider

The brioche, citrus and marzipan nose is catchy. The effervescence is refined, but at the end of the day, this is light from start to finish.

Falstaff

Medium yellow, silver reflections, fine, persistent mousse. Scented smoky-spice, a ripe yellow apple touch, orange zest with fine herbal undertones. Juicy, fresh white fruit nuances, vibrant acidity, citrus touch, saline-mineral reverberation. Good length, ageing potential.

Revista Adega

Champagne Club by Richard Juhlin

Just fantastic from the start. A colossal power and beautiful rumbling pinot maturity. It's like chewing on the ripest grapes from Aÿ and Verzenay. At the same time ultra stylish down all the unmistakable cristal essence, peach and mango sweetness, pineapple coconut, vanilla and unreal sprightly acidity and citrus flowery. Many similarities with 2002, but with a clearer pinot touch.