50 years of Champagne Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé: a vertical tasting and a technical discussion
Frédéric Rouzaud and Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon present a vertical tasting of Cristal Rosé, Louis Roederer’s ‘hidden gem’ that since its inception in 1974 has acted as their laboratory that they have learned a lot from. It’s also a terroir-based wine, where viticulture meets winemaking to create something special. Jamie Goode attends and devours the amazing technical insights, as well as the wines.
Frédéric Rouzaud and Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon were in town for a rather special lunch, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Roederer’s famed Cristal Rosé. ‘I’m very proud and have some emotion to pay tribute to my father,’ says Frédéric. Jean-Claude is now 82, and 50 years ago he took charge of winemaking at Roederer, in 1974. He’d already been in charge of the vineyards for a while. ‘He had a great idea to push the boundaries of Cristal to new levels of texture, finesse, concentration and energy,’ says Frédéric. ‘And his vision was to put the vineyards back to the centre of the creative process.’ Jean-Claude understood that the return to terroir was the future of Champagne: getting the wine back to the vineyards.
‘Roederer started out as a negociant, but with the DNA of a grower,’ he says. They have 242 hectares of vines, which is a lot for a house of this size, and everything except for the multi-vintage cuvée is entirely from their own vineyards. Linking the vineyards and the cellar is important for top quality wines. And Jean-Claude had already spent 7 years in the vineyards before he came to re-imaging Cristal in 1974. The rosé was born principally from vineyard plot selection in the vineyard that Cristal comes from, described by Jean-Baptiste as the ‘Musigny’ of Champagne.
These are the historic plots that have been the source of their massal selection work. So he chose six plots that were used to make Cristal since 1876, with three Pinot Noir plots from a special part of Ay at the heart of the wine. This area of Ay has a special tannic complexity which is very different from the phenolics of Champagne elsewere: more saline, more integrated and with more aromatic ripeness. Interestingly, the old mass selected vines here which have subsequently been used for extracting more than 150 different individuals to act as Roederers selection for biodiversity in planting their other vineyards would likely have been lost without the Cristal Rosé project. These are complemented by two beautiful Chardonnay plots in Avize and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger.
Jean-Baptiste uses an infusion technique to make this wine. While 96+% of rosé Champagnes are made from a base wine that is a blend of red and white wines, he wants to stay with co-fermentation, which brings more integration. ‘You get more precision and elegance, and more ethereal character,’ he says. ‘The idea behind this wine is the pursuit of phenolic ripeness, integrated with Champagne elegance, saltiness and finesse. We are staying in the fine line of Cristal.’
‘I believe that part of the texture is due to the bubbles,’ says Jean-Baptiste. ‘The idea is to have bubbles of salt; to have a salty feeling. The bubbles come as a support to the wine to make it more elegant and salty in the taste.’
For Cristal, he says that the first 10 years is fruit, and after this the soil comes back. An example of 2012, which was seen as an easy vintage on release, but which is now living a second life, coming back to a reductive, chalky style. After the 10 years to second life the wines then take another 10 years to reach the third life, with oxidative characters of hazelnut and other nutty flavours emerging.
He has moved his infusion. Previously, it was 2-4 days at warmer temperature. But now it is very cool: the Pinot goes to a cool room kept at minus 4 C overnight. ‘If you crush warm you get the green elements,’ he says. ‘I’m working on the beautiful phenolics you can only get at low temperatures.’ So there’s a cold soak for 7-10 days without punch down or pumpovers, in order to get these good phenolics. Then the juice is racked off and fermentation is allowed to start.
‘For a long time Cristal Rosé was the hidden gem of Roederer,’ says Jean-Baptiste, ‘but through it we learned about farming, and phenolic ripeness and the feeling of freshness. It was our laboratory. We learned a lot from it. It is always the best effort from Louis Roederer. This is what makes the spirit of Louis Roederer grow to the next level.’
Champagne Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé 2013 (all of these wines were served from magnum)
7 g/l dosage. This was a beautiful later-ripening vintage, with an October harvest. Very fine, fresh and pure with great concentration, showing lime, lemons and grapefruit, a hint of rose petal and some fine cherry and redcurrant notes. Such focus with a lovely saline twist, and a focused, precise finish. Such purity and precision. 96/100
Champagne Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé 2012
7 g/l dosage. This was a riper vintage. Richer, rounder and juicier, and creamier in texture. There’s more Pinot Noir here than in 2013. Fine toast and mineral motes on the nose showing a hint of reduction. Really mineral with lovely bright redcurrant and cherry notes as well as lemon, pear and peach. Complex and layered and very fine, showing nice richness. There’s a mineral, toasty twist here. Seductive but still precise. 96/100
The next flight was 2008 and 1995. 2008 was the first year of organic transition, and now they have 136 hectares certified organic. But, says Jean-Baptiste, this is just the beginning of the story: they are also farming regeneratively, with conservation farming, and are inspired by permaculture. [The week after this tasting, Jean-Baptiste was due to visit Masanobu Fukuoka’s farm, which is run by Masonobu’s grandson Hiroki, to hear more about farming without farming.] ‘Why permaculture?’ he asks. ‘It integrates sustainability and regenerative farming. People are very important. Without people you can have the best terroir but make very ordinary wine. Our people are so important. With permaculture you can get them into the philosophy and give them the responsibility for each plot. It is not only organic, not only regenerative, but what is more important is the full ecosystem. Humans have a role to play and every decision has an impact on your footprint. This is the philosophy we started 20 years ago.’
Champagne Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé 2008
8 g/l dosage. Eight years on lees. This has a full pink colour. Powerful, lively and intense with lovely structure. Taut cherry and lime with amazing fruit intensity. Structured with good acidity, this is tight and expressive with a youthful personality. Such intensity and concentration to this wine with a lovely saline twist on the finish. Pure and fine. 98/100
Champagne Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé 1995
This is from the period before the cold infusion. There was more botrytis in those days so the skin contact had to be shorter. Different viticulture, too. Disgorged in 2004. This is rich, toasty and expressive with pear, peach and a twist of cherry. Some iodine, spice and honey add savouriness. Rich and complex with some breadth. 95/100
The next two vintages were 1989 and 1976. ‘We speak a lot about Champagne getting warmer and losing its identity,’ says Jean-Baptiste, ‘so I chose two very hot vintages. And look at these two beautiful wines, picked at almost 12% potential alcohol.’ The 1989 was picked on September 5th and 2003 on September 1st, but he says that with data today they’d probably have picked this on the 15th August to preserve acidity. ‘There’s no acidity here but there is freshness,’ he says. ‘Champagne has made a mistake thinking acidity is key. Freshness is partly acidity, but it also comes from somewhere else: phenolics. We should talk more about feelings of freshness.’ His mantra is: ripeness first, acidity second.
When he joined in 1989 they had no cooling system in the cellar: they just sprayed water on the tanks. So, seeing the heat of the vintage, they hired a refrigerated container, and kept the fruit 24 hours in the reefer and then processed it cold. So, by accident, they created the first experience of cold processing and then cold soaking. ‘The wine was great,’ says Jean-Baptiste, ‘and this inspired me in the exploration of cold soaking.’ He adds that you can’t cold soak Chardonnay, though: the result is chalky green flavours, and thiols like Sauvignon Blanc.
Champagne Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé 1989
12 g/l dosage. Crystalline with nice toasty detail, and amazing bright lemon, mandarin and grapefruit characters. Such detail from the toast and spice, and lovely acidity as well as a saline twist. This is really focused, even though there is some richness. Real finesse. 96/100
Champagne Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé 1976
This was the third attempt to make Cristal Rosé, and it was better than the two previous years. The challenge was reaching phenolic ripeness, and in 1976 it came by accident of the very warm vintage. It’s also possible to get there by farming and pickig dates. Still not too evolved in colour, but showing some evolution on the nose with toast, honey, nuts and fine spices, as well as pear and peach, with lovely nutty depth. This has evolved so beautifully with some marzipan on the finish. 97/100
Champagne Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé 2002 Vinotheque
This is kept on the lees for 11 years versus 8, and then it has a further 5 years of dynamic riddling. This is when riddling takes place every quarter to move the lees, aiming for a more reductive style. This is unique in Champagne. This was finally disgorged in 2017 with 8 g/l dosage, using jetting technology to eliminate any oxygen in the headspace. They measure amino acids every year now, to see how the autolysis is affecting the wine, with a goal to building up amino acids to the point of complexity without crossing over to oxidative characters. Lovely complexity and intensity here with powerful pear, apple, lime and apricot notes, as well as some cherry. Such precision, with beautiful fruit intensity, showing great weight and focus. Layered and complex with great definition. Pristine. 97/100
