2009 Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé, Champagne

55% pinot noir, 45% chardonnay, colour achieved by both saignee and blending; `1% vinified in oak casks; no malolactic fermentation; aged 6 years on lees; 8g/L dosage

Cristal Rosé is a towering monument to the grand juxtaposition between breathtaking finesse and surging concentration, rumbling with the power of grand cru pinot noir and mouth-storming chalk minerality.

It propagates with concummate definition, exacting poise and undeterred persistence, reinforced by tention of grand cru chardonnay. its pretty, pale -dslmon due does nothing to anticipate such depth of glorious red cherry and wild strawberry character, with stunning complexity of pinot noir spice and age-derived complexity of brioche and nouigat.A captivating expression of this warm season, and ready to drink now.

98 points Tyson Stelzer The Champagne Guide

The 2009 Cristal Rosé is a rich and intense expression of Roederer's Cristal. Due to roughly 55% of old-vines Pinot Noir from Aÿ's calcareous clay soils and the sunny vintage, it has super luscious fruit with a velvety, caressing and powdery-chalky texture and great depth that gives it very good potential to age. There is also remarkable purity, finesse and tension in the energetic 2009, which cellar master Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon compares with the 2012 and the enchanting style of Vosne-Romannée. The 2009 Cristal Rosé is like a laser beam on the palate, very straight, sharp and precise yet elegant, intensely fruity and chalky. Very fine wild red fruit flavours feature on the nose, with crystalline freshness on the chalky palate. This is a gorgeous Cristal and another great 2009. In contrast to the 2009 white Cristal, the Rosé is perfect to drink now, perhaps only for a few months before it shuts down to start its real life in a couple of years. Drink 2022-2050.Tasted at the domaine in May 2018.