Sara Underdown charts the beautiful evolution of Cristal Rosé as a wine over time, punctuated with textural luxury and representing the culmination of a long and winding path to biodynamics, craftsmanship, and taste.
Tastings don’t come any rarer or grander than one I was fortunate enough to be invited to this year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of what is arguably Champagne’s most exclusive rosé: Cristal Rosé.
“This is an important and emotional moment for me,” said chef de cave Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon during our interview before the dinner at the Roederer family’s mansion in Reims. Lécaillon, who joined the family-owned Roederer Group in the early 1990s before taking over as chef de cave in 1999, is particularly passionate about Cristal Rosé. I’ve seen him consumed by a frustration for its perfection since meeting him in 2012.
As with most other things in life, the wine has evolved over its 50 years, but change has always been for the better. Lécaillon has been at the helm for most of this but has remained true to the founding vision of the wine as a more “amplified” version of Cristal Brut within a feather-light body.
A terroir-inspired rosé
Cristal Rosé came almost 100 years later than Cristal Brut, in 1974—a stroke of genius on the part of Jean-Claude Rouzaud, the maison’s modern-day patriarch, who had the good foresight to dedicate old-vine Pinot Noir from its finest sites for Cristal’s signature style.
Rouzaud had entered the business in 1967 after completing viticultural
This Article was originally published on World of Fine Wine
